Legend of Fallen Wind
by F-Hazard
Summary: When you don't know your past, it's bad. When the only person you do know won't tell you anything about your past, its worse. When the you in the past doesn't want you to know you, it's confusing. But what can you do besides accepting it and live on?
1. Prologue

**AN:** And here is my next story. I've read most of the Naruto/Fairy Tail stories and I wanted to try my own. If you haven't read/watched Fairy Tail I suggest you do, not that Tinker Bell crap, it's by the same guy who did RAVE Master if you know it and is surprisingly good. This is a Naruto-centric story in the Fairy Tail world and I'm a little sketchy on the pairing, but I think I have it and it will probably be a harem.

I'm making the chapters for this story much shorter than my others to see if it makes it easier to write. The average chapter will probably be about 5000-7000 words, maybe a little less.

Read & Review  
>Enjoy<p>

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><p><strong><span>Prologue<span>**

"Where am I?" A boy asked with a loud groan as his eyes fluttered open. The boy was young, not even a teenager. He had bright blonde hair that spiked out wildly in all directions. His eyes were a startling cerulean blue, wide with innocence and confusion. He had tanned skinned, completely smooth save for three marks on either cheek resembling whiskers. He wore a rather bland outfit of khaki pants, black shoes, and a black shirt. Around his neck were a green stone and two silver balls hanging from a simple black string.

He sat up, holding his head in an attempt to calm his raging headache and looked around. He was in a very large grass-filled clearing in a forest. The trees that surrounded him were rather short and rustled in a light breeze.

"You woke up sooner than I thought you would. How odd." A voice remarked.

The blonde boy snapped his head forward to see a woman standing a few feet before him, and he was almost certain she was not there moments ago. The woman looked to be in her early twenties with heavily tanned skin. Her hair was white, a stark contrast to her skin, and fell down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were a bright blue, much like his own. She wore a dull gray dress and had no shoes on. Wrapped around her neck like a scarf was a leopard pelt. She had one hand resting on her hip while the other hung at her side holding a bag tied with golden string.

"W-Who are you?" The boy questioned, sliding back some. The woman had a strange aura about her. Not really an evil feeling, but one that screamed power.

The woman gave a small smile, looking at the boy with her head tilted slightly to one side. "The better question is who are _you_?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but could think of nothing to say. "I-I don't know."

The woman nodded as if she already knew that. "Your name is Naruto, and I erased all of your memories."

The boy, Naruto, grew angry when he heard this and jumped to his feet. "Why the hell would you do that?" He yelled at her.

The woman arced an eyebrow, not showing any offense at being yelled at. "You asked me to."

That stopped whatever it was Naruto was preparing to say, replacing it with a confused look. "Huh?"

The woman gave her own confused look before giving a loud 'Oh' in realization, quickly covering her mouth with her free hand when she gave a small laugh. "My mistake, sorry. It's kind of hard to talk to you when you forgot everything after knowing me for so long." She gave a longing sigh. "I already miss the you I knew." She took a step forward and kneeled down so she was at eyelevel with the much shorter person. Bring up her hand not occupied by the large bag, she caressed his whisker marked cheek. "It's funny." She said, more to herself than the blonde. "You look, talk, move, and even feel just like the Naruto I know." She sighed loudly and stood back up, looking depressed. "But you're not him, not anymore."

Naruto looked at the woman who had a far away look in her eyes. He tried desperately to remember her, but he could not; he could not remember anything. "How close were we?"

The woman looked at him in surprised, obviously not expecting that question, before her eyes fell and she grew depressed once more. "We were… friends." She said solemnly. "Just… friends."

He did not know why, but he somehow knew that there was something this woman was not telling him, like an instinct. "What's your name?"

She only seemed to grow more depressed at hearing that. "I guess it really did work… you remember nothing." She took a deep breath, standing up straight and schooling her features to show nothing. "My name is Fujin, the Goddess of Wind."

It took a moment, but Naruto's eyes bulged and he fell back down on his ass, a shaky finger pointing at the woman. "Y-Y-Y-Y-You're a g-g-g-god!"

Out of all of the things he was expecting as an answer, none of them were the beautiful laugh the woman gave. She laughed so hard it was a surprised she did not suffocate. Fujin finally calmed down and looked to the side, a far off look in her eyes. "That brings back memories." She looked at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. "You are just like him… yet you aren't him." She gave another longing sigh. "But yes, I am a goddess." She held up her hand, palm facing upwards, and a miniature tornado formed on the palm of her hand. "I control the winds themselves." As if to prove her point, the former calm breeze grew until it was nearly strong enough to take Naruto off his feet, before it calmed down back to the breeze.

"… Wow." Was all Naruto could say. A real goddess. A real flesh and blood deity stood right in front of him… at least he assumed she had blood. Then again, for all he knew he had met many other gods before he lost his memories, he knew her at least. Again with the instinct, he felt he could trust her and everything she said. "… Why?" He suddenly asked.

The blue-eyed goddess gave him another confused look. "Why what?"

"Why did I ask you to erase my memories?" He clarified. He felt the urge to know why he would do such a thing.

Fujin bit her lower lip. "I can't tell you that."

"Then why did you agree to do it?"

"I can't tell you that." She said, more forcefully.

Naruto grew angry once more, stand back up and glaring at the woman who was at least a foot taller than him. "Why? Why can't you tell me?"

"Because you told me not to!" She shouted at him. The sudden proclamation whipped up a torrent of wind, pushing Naruto back some, but he did not fall.

"What?" The blonde asked, calming down significantly, as did the goddess.

"You asked me to erase every memory, scar, and thought you ever had from you mind and body." She explained, her eyes dropping in depression once more. "You asked me to not tell you anything regarding what you were or why I would need to do such. You asked for a new start where no one would know you, and I will give that to you." She recalled her features once more, her face becoming emotionless. "It was your last wish and I will keep it, no matter what."

Naruto was silent for a moment. He would try not to anger the goddess anymore. Her emotions seemed to change randomly, but for some reason he could not find himself to be annoyed by that. "Is there anything you can tell me?"

Fujin looked into his eyes, then at his chest, giving a small smile. "Yes, there is one thing." She pointed at the necklace he was wearing. "That necklace, it was very precious to you. You were always saying how you would only give it to the one most precious to you, just as the one who wore it before you said."

He looked at the crystal hanging from his neck, holding it up with one hand. Again, he tried to remember… but still got nothing.

"Everything else you will need to know for your life will be within your mind." Fujin continued.

Naruto blinked in confusion. "How-"

He was cut off when a finger poked his forehead, throwing him off balance slightly. "Now then, what is the name of the world you are going to?" The goddess asked, lowering her hand as Naruto rubbed his forehead.

"How would I-… Earthland." He did not know how, but he suddenly knew things… many things.

Fujin nodded, expecting such a response. "What is main currency?"

"Jewels."

"The main form of fighting?"

"Magic."

"Magic users?"

"Mages."

"A place where Mages gather?"

"Guilds."

Fujin gave a nod with each answer, satisfied. "I also implanted the knowledge on how to use a few types of Magic. It will take some time to get down actually using them, but if I know you, you'll have the basics within the next year and mastered before too long." She gave a small laugh. "The again, you'll probably make your own Magic before too long if you don't kill yourself."

It was then that Naruto realized that he could no longer feel the grass beneath his feet, he could not even feel his feet. Looking down he held back a scream when he saw that everything below his knees were gone, being consumed in light. The light moved up his legs, breaking them apart into small particles that disappeared just as fast. He felt no pain, just a kind of numbness.

"I guess this is goodbye, Naruto Namikaze." At the sound of the goddess' voice, Naruto looked back up. Fujin once more held an emotionless face as she stared back at Naruto. "When you wake up, head north. You'll reach a town with a guild I think you'll like. It's impossible to miss, just look for the large pyramid-shaped building with a sign labeled 'Fairy Tail'."

Naruto nodded, unsure what to say. By now all of his legs and most of his torso and arms had already disappeared. Locking eyes with Fujin, he said the only thing that he could think of. "Thank you… I won't forget you." With those parting words, the light consumed his head and he was gone.

Fujin stared at the spot where the young teen had just been, a lone tear traveling down her cheek. "You already have." She said, as if he could hear her.

The rustling of leaves could be heard at the edge of the clearing as a large man, clad in armor walked in. If the goddess knew he was there, she did not show it or turn to him. "Where is he?" The man asked in a business tone.

"You just missed him, sorry." Fujin said, though she did not sound like she regretted anything.

The man gave a low growl. "You're lucky I don't kill you right now, _child_. Now tell me where he is!"

"Even if I did so, you would not be able to do anything about him." Fujin still did not turn to the man.

"And why is that?" His annoyance could easily be heard in his voice. Overhead, storm clouds began to form.

"Doing so would break the law; you cannot interfere with living mortals." The goddess looked at the dark clouds in almost a curious manner.

"How does that have anything to do with _him_?"

"Simple, Susanoo… he is mortal." Before she could be questioned once more, Fujin disappeared in a light breeze, leaving a baffled god and a raging storm behind.

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><p>An unknown amount of time sleeping and a two-mile walk later found Naruto standing before the building the goddess described. <em>"I really couldn't miss it, could I?"<em> The blonde had given up on searching for answers regarding the tanned woman within his own mind, but he would find out more about her some day. _"If I have to live then I need a goal, and mine is to find out how I knew you, Fujin."_ His attention was drawn to a kid, maybe a few years younger then him, with pink hair running into the guild carrying a giant white and blue egg, followed by a similar age white-haired girl. The blonde gave a chuckle as he to walked into the building and saw the many strange people. _"I guess I can try this place out, it shouldn't be too horrible."_ He suddenly ducked down as a chair smashed into the wall behind him and a large brawl broke out. _"If I survived that is."_ Still, he could not help but smile, feeling relaxed for some reason.

"Well hello there." Naruto looked down to see a rather short, older man standing on a table to be at eye level with the blonde. "Are you here to post a job?"

Naruto blinked owlishly for a moment, then chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "No, I'm here to join." He looked around to the masses of people fighting and watching, every one had a smile on their face. "It looks like a fun place to be. Besides I need the money." He looked back to the old man, who had a strange smile on his face. "Do you know where I can find the Guild Master?"

The old man's smile grew and he laughed. "My boy, you're looking at him." He held out a hand. "Makarov."

The blonde gave his own feral smile and took the hand, giving it a firm shake. "Naruto." A empty bottle smashing into the side of his head stopped whatever else he was going to say. "Alright who threw that?" He yelled at the people fighting. Not waiting for an answer, he charged into the brawl, ignoring the blood dripping down his face from where the bottle hit.

Makarov just looked at where Naruto disappeared into the brawl, wondering if he should stop the fight or ignore and hope they do not destroy too much. "Something tells me you'll fit in just fine here."


	2. Startup

**AN:** And Here be chapter two, yay... kind of... maybe?

Okay the reviews are leaning more towards a harem if I'm reading them correctly, and I have to say that so am I so that's probably what this story will become. Sorry to all of those out there that don't like harems. If it is one, it will be small, three or four girls max. But even if I am somehow convinced to only do one girl with Naruto, it won't come in until about chapter five or so.

I put a poll on my profile (I hope I did it right) on who you want Naruto to be with. The results won't be definite but if enough people vote for one girl, I might change to her. If votes are even enough I'll probably make it a harem. Poll will be closed on Sunday or Monday (July 10/11), so VOTE NOW!

And now I feel like a political comercial

In this chapter, you will see get a first look Naruto's Magic, and he will be paired with someone who I will NOT pair with him no matter what; Lisanna. You can hate me for that or whatever but I don't care. For now, imagine that Naruto is as strong as Natsu was in the beginning of canon, but he will get stronger.

One thing I know is a problem for Fairy Tail is the many ways to spell names, its very confusing if you don't know.

Lastly, I remember at some point Cana had a thing where she could see people's future using her cards. I'm going to be working off of this as a point in my story.

Read & Review  
>Enjoy<p>

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><p><strong><span>Startup<span>**

In the world of Earthland, in the prosperous country of Fiore, in the merchant and magical city of Magnolia, lies one of the most powerful magical guilds in the world; Fairy Tail. The third and current Master of the famous guild, Makarov, is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, one of the most powerful Mages in the world. The guild is famous for its tendency to always complete a job, even if it means destroying a large portion of a city in the process. Now whether this was a good thing or not could be argued with, as while the majority of the Magic Council believed that it was bad, many other guild Masters and members think otherwise.

Currently inside the guild building was filled with people sitting around at tables and benches, drinking, eating, laughing, and lazing about. At that moment a rose-haired boy wearing a red long-sleeve shirt, orange pants, and a white scarf with a grid-like pattern wrapped around his neck loudly kicked the door open. The sound of crashing gained the attention of everyone in the room.

"Naruto!" The boy yelled. "Fight me!"

"Aye!" A blue cat followed the boy in, hovering above him with a pair of wings sprouting from its back.

"He's not here, idiot." Said a black-haired boy around the same age and clad in only boxers sitting at a nearby table. "He's been on a job for the past week, stop barging in here expecting him to be back." He said, trying to look cool and intimidating, which he might of if he was not half naked and a kid.

"Gray, you're clothes." A young brunette girl wearing an orange plaid dress with her hair in a ponytail sitting on the other side of the table said with a bored voice.

"Shit!" The boy, Gray, sounded surprised when he saw his attire. A slightly older redhead girl in a white skirt and armor then hit him upside the head.

"Stop cursing." She said to Gray.

"Oh like you're even better!"

Seeming to be on instinct, the redhead turned and glared at the other girl, their foreheads contacting rather hard. "What'd you say, Mirajane?" The redhead growled out.

The other girl, a blue-eyed, white-haired punk-looking child wearing all black clothes that only covered enough to be called decent and knee-length black boots, glared back. Lighting could almost be seen shooting between their eyes. "You heard me, Erza!"

It was at that moment, while all attention was on the arguing girls, that the doors to the guild opened again and two people walked in, noticeably quieter than the previous person. The older of the two was a tanned man with dark blue hair that spiked upwards. He had a few hairs growing in on his chin. His simple clothes were torn and scuffed up in multiple places. If one word were to describe the man at the moment, it would be tired. He walked, looking dead on his feet and ready to collapse. The other one, noticeably younger and less tired, was also male. He had spiky hair as well, only bright blonde and more wild than his companion, and more of a childish face. Whisker-like marks shown on his cheeks. He was dressed in black shoes and a blinding bright orange-buttoned shirt tucked into dark blue dress pants.

"How the hell do you do that kid?" The older of the two asked, sounding out of breath.

The blonde laughed. "I don't know why you're complaining, Macao. You're the one who asked to come with me on the job."

"Well you didn't tell me it was an A-Class job!" The man, Macao, yelled before calming down again. "You know, I think I'll stick to doing jobs with Wakaba." The older man then walked away, limping slightly, and sat at a table next to a man who was presumably Wakaba.

The younger male shook his head. "This is why I prefer to do jobs solo." He then noticed the group of children who seemed about ready to start _another_ fight. "I don't know which is stranger, that kids my age are the main danger to a room full of adults, or that I'm used to them acting like this after only knowing them for half a year." Walking further into the building, he patted a younger boy on the shoulder. He was in a blue suit and red tie and had shaggy white hair. "Sister's at it again, Elfman?"

"Naruto!" Elfman said with a smile once he saw who it was talking to him. "Yeah, Mira-nee-san and Erza will never get along."

"Aye!" The blue cat from before, now resting in the arms of another younger girl with recently cut white hair and blue eyes. She wore a simple pink dress and red slip-on shoes. The girl giggled at the cat's exclamation, looking at Naruto as well.

"I'm jealous of you, Naruto." The girl said.

"Oh, why's that, Lisanna-chan?" The blonde asked, giving the younger girl a smile.

"You can go on missions alone. Mira-nee-chan won't let me leave the town without someone with me." She looked down at the cat in her arms. "But she still argues even when I'm with Natsu or Gildarts, it's so unfair, isn't it Happy?"

"Aye!" Happy, the blue cat, seemed to agree with his adoptive mother.

Naruto could only sigh longingly. "I wish I could do jobs alone, but almost every time I try someone offers to do it with me. I've probably worked with almost everyone here." He looked around the room, trying to spot any Mages he has not worked with before. "The only ones I can think of that haven't asked to go with me are Erza, Mirajane, Wakaba, Luxus, Mistogan, Natsu, Reedus, and you Lisanna-chan. Actually come to think of it I've never even met Mistogan before."

"He was here a few days ago." Elfman supplied, trying to be helpful.

"Eh! I missed him? Well damn, and I was all excited to see if I could resist his Sleep Magic." Naruto looked rather annoyed at hearing that. "Whatever, I'll get over it. Besides it's not even noon yet I think I'll take up another job to pass the time."

Lisanna jumped out of her seat, startling Happy, and looked at Naruto with her large blue eyes shining with excitement. "Can I go with you?"

Naruto gave the girl three years his minor a flat look. "Why is it everyone wants to team up with me?"

The white-haired girl lost her smile and tears began to form on the edges of her eyes. "Y-Y-You don't want to work with m-me, Aniki?"

Naruto waved his hands frantically, trying to calm the girl who he sometimes forgot was still just a child. This was one of those times he wished he knew how to deal with a crying woman. "No, no, no, no! Nothing like that Lisanna-chan, I'm was just curious, that's all! I don't mind doing a job with you, really! In fact I love it. Why don't you go pick out a job and I'll we'll do it together!"

The girl's emotions did a complete one-eighty and was suddenly smiling. "Okay." She rushed away, Happy flying behind her, to the board where all of the available jobs were, conveniently named the Job Board.

Naruto stood there with a blank look, ignoring the laughing Elfman. "She just played me, didn't she?" He asked the younger male, getting a nod. "And when did she start calling me Aniki?"

Elfman shrugged. "Just now."

"Oh yeah, where's Master, I need to tell him I finished." Naruto looked around, but could not spot the elderly Mage.

"He's not here." Elfman shook his head. "Went to a council meeting. Erza's supposed to be in charge but…" He trailed off and Naruto followed his line of sight to see the redhead giving a blank stare to Natsu, who was currently yelling at her.

"Right." The blonde said with a nod, knowing now was not the time to talk to the girl.

Lisanna came rushing back. "I found a good one, Aniki." She showed him the paper with the job details on it, which he took to read. "Monster extermination in Tanba Canyon. The reward is 280,000 Jewels." Naruto read over the paper, nodded, and put it in his pocket.

"Okay then, you ready to go? Tanba Canyon is a few hours away on foot, think you can make it?"

"Of course." Lisanna gave him a large smile, then looked at the cat flying around her head. "Happy, stay here with Natsu, okay?"

"Aye." The blue animal said, sounding slightly depressed. He got one last hug from Lisanna before flying back over to Natsu, who was currently covered in bruises and under Erza's foot.

"Let's go then." With that, the young blonde followed by the even younger white-haired girl left the guild, Elfman looking at them and silently wishing his younger sister luck.

"_You're going to need it, Nee-san."_ He thought. _"If you're not careful, Naruto's Magic will knock you off your feet, literally."_ The suit-wearing boy gave an involuntary shutter when remembering his previous mission with the blonde. _"How can he be so strong when he's only a few years older than me?"_

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><p>"I was serious back there by the way." Naruto said as they exited the town, his hands behind his head while Lisanna skipped next to him. Seeing he had the girl's attention, he continued. "If you know why everyone wants to do a job with me will you please tell me?"<p>

Lisanna laughed and converted her skip into a walk to save energy. "Silly, it's how we always do things when someone new joins."

"Care to explain." He responded, confused.

"Well, people are always suspicious when a new face no one knows show up." She tired to reason. "So everyone teams up with that person to know if they're the real deal. I guess you could call it our welcoming ritual. Everyone just does it if they want to." Lisanna put a finger to her chin as she thought about something. "Though for you, a lot of people want to join because you're a Wind Mage, and not many people have seen one before. And those who have say that your Magic is very different then what they've seen."

Naruto let out a loud sigh. "I knew I shouldn't have shown Gildarts so much of my Magic. I don't even like using it."

"Why? Isn't it really powerful?"

"That's the thing, it's _too_ powerful. I have just enough control over it to not cut myself up when I use it." He gave a dry chuckle. "It may be hard but I'm still working on it. I'll probably get enough control to take the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial next year."

"Good luck with that." Lisanna said with a smile, getting a thanks from the blonde.

As the rest of the trip was taken in a comfortable silence, Naruto thought over what he had said. Fujin had given him the knowledge of four types of Magic. One of which was the Wind Magic he did not like using. While his control of the Magic did suck, there was another reason he did not like using it. The name of the Magic, something he never told anyone, was Wind God Slayer. The very name of it set warning bells off in his head, as it would suggest that by learning it he would have to _kill_ the Wind God, a.k.a. Fujin, something he did not want to do, _ever_. It actually frightened him how easy the Magic was to learn, it was like he knew it all his life and was just a bit rusty after not using it for a while. The other three types of Magic Fujin gave him the knowledge of were Clone, Sage, and Spiraling Sphere. He had, in an attempt to not overwhelm him, only tried to learn to use the third one.

While Spiraling Sphere was difficult to get down, the outcome was quite useful. The first spell formed a swirling ball, about the size of an orange, out of pure Magic Energy. It was the sight to see the first time he made one. The only problem was he was not good enough to use it yet. He knew, probably through what Fujin gave him, that it was a close-range attack where you slam it into the target and it does enough damage to kill or break almost anything he could think of. Yet when he used it, it grew unstable and exploded, nearly took his hand off the first time it happened.

But back to Wind God Slayer, the Magic was scary powerful, and if Naruto learned anything it was that the stronger the Magic, the harder it is to learn. But fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, Naruto could use it very, very easy. So much so that he could take on A-Class jobs after only being a Mage for six months.

What kind of life did he have before?

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><p>Back at the guild, things have calmed down significantly. Natsu, no longer itching for a fight, sat at a table with, Gray; fully clothed, and the brunette; Cana. Happy was snoring softly as he slept atop Natsu's head. The rose headed boy looked very annoyed, sitting with his chin on the table.<p>

"Natsu, isn't this about the time you'd choose a job for the day?" Cana asked, putting down her cup of orange juice next to various cards spread about the table.

"I don't wanna." He responded, pouting. "Every time I leave is when Naruto comes back. It's like he plans it so he doesn't have to fight me or something."

"You do know he was here a few minutes ago, right?" Wakaba said as he walked by and heard the conversation. Wakaba was a man into his late twenties with brown hair that protrudes forward, sunglasses, and a cigarette in his mouth. He wore jeans and an open beige jacket over an orange shirt.

"Really?" Natsu yelled, though refrained from moving quickly so as not to wake the cat on his head. "Where is he, I'm tired of waiting to fight him." He punched his right fist into his left palm for emphases.

"He left already." Wakaba said, silently laughing at Natsu's disbelieving face. "He dropped Macao off and went out on another job, though it's probably an easy one and he'll be back by tomorrow or the day after."

"Why do you say that?" Gray asked as he started to unbutton his shirt.

Wakaba gave a shrug. "It was Lisanna that picked it out, I doubt she'd pick a really hard one."

Natsu gave a loud cry of, "Lisanna, why would you turn on me and keep me from fighting Naruto?" He was promptly ignored since only moments before Mirajane, who happened to be sitting nearby, had heard what Wakaba had said. That is why she is now holding the much taller man by the collar and pulling him down to eyelevel.

"What do you mean she went with that blonde bastard?" She yelled at the smoking man, causing him to sweat slightly.

"I don't know!" Wakaba said quickly, not wanting to get on the powerful girl's bad side. "I just saw her pick out a job and the two of them leave! You should probably ask your brother, he was there!" He did not really want to throw Elfman into the fire like that, but he had no other choice at the moment if he wanted to survive this forced conversation.

Mirajane gave a low growl. "Why didn't Elfman tell me?" She rhetorically asked, letting go of Wakaba and storming away. "I'm going to kill him! And then I'll kill Naruto!"

Wakaba rubbed his neck, wondering if her nails left a mark. "All women are crazy, just one more reason why I'll never get married." The smoking man walked away, off to find his partner and longtime rival, Macao.

Natsu muttered something before looking at the only girl at the table. "Hey Cana, you've been on a mission with Naruto before, right?"

The girl gave a nod. "Yeah, why?"

"What's his Magic like?"

"It's kind of like yours in a way." Gray answered before Cana could, getting a glare from the girl, only for it to turn into a smirk when she saw an easy comeback.

"Gray, your clothes."

"Ah, not again!" He started looking around in an attempt to find the clothing he had somehow misplaced.

"Anyway," Cana continued, making sure she had Natsu's attention. "I guess it is kind of like your Magic, but instead of fire, Naruto uses wind." She finished with a shrug, going back to drinking her orange juice and flipping over a seemingly random card.

Natsu took on a rare thoughtful expression. "Do you think I could beat him?"

"No." The brunette answered without even thinking about it, shaking her head. Before Natsu could get angry and/or depressed she spoke again. "I doubt even Erza could beat him."

"Is that so?" Cana froze mid-drink and slowly turned to see the redhead standing behind her, hands on her hips.

Cana swallowed and nodded slowly. No use trying to deny it, she honestly thought that Naruto was stronger than Erza. Unfortunately, she had no idea how the redhead would react to being told someone was stronger than her. If it was Natsu, he would loudly deny it and go off to fight that person. Gray and Mirajane would probably do something similar. Elfman would probably accept it, never being one to look for a fight. Most of the other people in the guild, such as Luxus, would be angered or annoyed by it. Master Makarov would laugh it off without a care. Cana had no idea what Mistogan would do, but then again she doubted anyone else did either. Similarly, she had no idea what Erza would do, but whatever it was, Cana hoped she did not attack the messenger, so to speak.

Surprisingly, Erza had no vocal reaction. She just gave a small frown, turned, and walked away, disappearing out the doors of the guild. Even though she was not supposed to leave since she was in charge, no one had the guts to stop her.

Cana loudly swallowed again, getting nervous for some reason. "I have a bad feeling." Focusing back on the Magic Fortune Telling Cards laid out before her on the table, the brunette saw that only three were not flipped. Choosing the one farthest from her, she flipped it over to show a silhouette of a person with a crown. _"The King."_ She thought with a frown. _"It could either mean the leader or the strongest in a group, but no matter what there can only be one. I'm guessing it's Erza or Naruto… or maybe Mirajane."_ In an attempt to try and have a different future, she flipped the card closest to her, showing a picture of two sword clashing and making sparks, getting a soft groan from her. _"The Battle. Oh great, so there will be a leader and a fight. I wish the cards were at least sometimes wrong, it would give me far less stress." _She sighed and gathered up her cards, not wanting to flip the third. _"Sometimes I wish I was old enough to have some of that alcohol stuff, it's supposed to calm you down."_

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><p>Naruto and Lisanna followed a man through the bottom of the canyon. Turns out the job was posted by a group of a dozen or so archeologists trying to dig something up in Tanba Canyon, only now there were some monsters in the way, hence why they hired a guild. When they told the man they were the hired help, he started crying in happiness, a lot, and took them to the camp where all of the archeologists were.<p>

"Right in here." The man they were following, an archeologist, said as he gestured to a large tent in the middle of the camp. The two Fairy Tail Mages entered and found it contained a wooden table with a map of the area on it. Various other maps were rolled up around the tent and a lantern hung from the ceiling, something they might need to turn on soon as the sky was already turning orange with the sun setting. The man stood on one side of the table, while Naruto and Lisanna stood on the other. Neither of the Mages could understand the map at all, but the archeologist did not seem to have that problem. "Our camp is right here." He pointed to an area on the map. "Just west of here is where the monsters are." He pointed to another area, not that far away. "They are occupying the only area we have not searched yet. At first we tried to work around them, but if we got to close they attacked. We already lost a few of our men to them." He made a tight fist, showing his anger.

Naruto nodded, ignoring Lisanna's sad face at hearing someone was killed. "We'll get right on it."

The man visibly brightened, and tears started streaming from his eyes at an alarming rate. "I'm so glad!"

"Then stop crying." Lisanna muttered, greatly confused and slightly disgusted with the amount of tears the man could produce.

The blonde exited the tent and headed deeper into the canyon, Lisanna falling into step beside him. "So how are we going to do this?" The girl asked, getting a raised eyebrow from Naruto. "You're older than me, so you're the leader."

"If you say so. I kind of wish that Macao thought the same way so he would have stopped arguing about all of my plans on our last job." Naruto sighed. He was going to remember that excuse for later when he did not want to not lead a team. "First of all let's see what we're up against."

As if on his command, they spotted the monsters not far off, eight in total, dancing around a bon fire. They were vaguely reptilian with yellow skin and a lot of excess fat, the shortest standing at eight feet tall with the tallest being eleven. They stood on their hind legs while carrying various things from drums to pots in their arms. Small sharp spines trailed up their backs and their fat faces were spit by a smile of sorts, filled with razor sharp teeth. Overall they were a rather unappealing creatures.

"Jargons." Naruto said with a frown, hiding behind a rock. "At least there are only a few of them."

"What's so special about a Jargon, Aniki?" Lisanna asked, following the supposed leader and hiding as well.

"They're mean little things." Naruto looked around, taking in the setting of where they were about to fight. "Faster then they look, trust me. Have a nasty bite, a few of them can and will breathe fire if they feel threatened."

"Fire?" Lisanna gave a disappointed groan. "I knew I should have asked Natsu to come with us."

"Why didn't you ask him?" Naruto suddenly asked, looking at the girl and forgetting about the situation for the moment. "I know you two are pretty close. You didn't even bring Happy with you, why?"

Lisanna gave him a smile. "The wife can work as well, and she would never endanger her children." She said it as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

He could only blink owlishly when he heard that. "Wife?" He did not know exactly how old Natsu was, but Lisanna was only ten. He did not think it was possible for someone so young to be so into a relationship like that. "Are you serious about that?"

Lisanna gave a nod, still smiling. "Of course. So let's do this, okay?"

Naruto looked at her for a minute longer, then nodded and his face grew serious. "Can you take care of yourself or do I have to watch after you?" When Lisanna gave him a glare that could rival her sister's, he raised his hands to show he meant no harm. "Sorry, sorry. You can go first if you want."

She smiled, causing Naruto to wonder if she played him again, before closing her eyes and concentrating her Magic Energy. "Take Over: Animal Soul: Rabbit!" The vision of the little girl vanished behind a bright light, being replaced by a giant rabbit. Before Naruto could even blink, the rabbit had jumped high into the air.

This was also notified the group of monsters to their presence. As Naruto said before, they were quiet fast and wasted no time in rushing the blonde. He back flipped when one of them threw the drum it was holding at him, only for the giant rabbit that was Lisanna to come back down and crush the yellow monster. "Guess she's okay by herself. One down, seven to go." He muttered, righting himself just as another Jargon had used its impressive speed and appeared directly in front of him. Side stepping as the monster tried to claw at him, Naruto thrust his own fist forward, aimed for the fleshy stomach of the creature. "Tempest Fist!" A ball of wind surrounded the fist moments before contact, making the damage done greater and small cuts appear around where it hit. Wasting no time, Naruto took a large step back and inhaled a deep breath, his cheeks inflating. "Tempest Bullet!" It may have taken a few moments to prepare, but the condensed ball of wind that shot out of his mouth had hit the monster with enough force to launch it back into another Jargon, knocking them both out. "Three down."

Landing softly on his feet, Naruto was able to move out of the way just as another Jargon that somehow got behind him tried to bite him in half. The blonde ducked down and punched the monster's forehead. "Tempest Fist!" He repeated. It may be a weak attack, but it was still enough to push the monster a good foot off the ground. And when shot straight into the skull, it was enough to knock it out. "Four." Just then another yellow monster landed on the ground loudly, not moving. Looking up he saw a large bird he could only assume was Lisanna. "Make that five."

"Look out!" The bird flying above him shouted.

Naruto whipped around and saw a Jargon, taller than the others, some distance away and looking about to roar. Only instead of sound, the monster breathed out a torrent of fire. Naruto brought both of his hands forward, concentrating for a large amount of wind to surround them. "Tempest Breakthrough!" The gale of wind, far superior to any he used prior, was strong enough to push the pathetic flames, any loose gravel, small boulders, and the Jargon away and out of sight. "Six."

"Take Over: Animal Soul: Tiger!" He heard Lisanna's voice, just as something crashed behind him. Turning around, he saw another defeated Jargon under a large tiger. "Seven." Lisanna noted, causing Naruto to give a small smile as she reverted back to her normal, human form and jumped off the monster.

The blonde gave a frown and looked around. "There were eight." He said, rather ominously, trying to spot the last enemy.

"Maybe it was blasted away in your last attack." Lisanna said, looking around as well. The canyon was completely bare, nothing moved. There was a small cracking sound, making the pair renew their attempts to find the source. "What's tha- MOVE!"

Lisanna suddenly tackled the larger frame of Naruto away just as a fat, yellow arm burst from the ground and grabbed her. "Lisanna!" The blonde yelled as he skidded away and the monster came all of the way out of the ground, holding the white-haired girl in front of it as a meat shield, a clawed finger carefully against her neck. "Dammit." He cursed stood up. That was a problem with his Wind God Slayer Magic, he had no accuracy with it at long-range. If he attacked the monster, he would get Lisanna as well no matter what.

"**Don't move, smarty-pants."** The Jargon's deep yet child-like voice said. **"One move and this little girl's dead."**

Naruto grit his teeth, but made no other move. _"Dammit all!"_ He mentally cursed. _"I need a concentrated attack, anything else would kill Lisanna. And I'm too far away to do anything else. Even worse the Jargon would sense that she's using Magic before she could transform and get away. I don't have any Magic accurate enough to only hit it besides Tempest Fist and that won't do enough damage for it to release Lisanna. The only I can use is… Yes! Of course!"_ Sighing, knowing what he was about to do was stupid, he locked eyes with the girl and gave a slight nod. Lisanna nodded back, vaguely knowing what he was going to do. She silently mouthed the word 'Magic?' to him, and he shook his head.

"**Now just stay there and don't move."** The Jargon continued, taking small steps back while keeping his eyes trained on Naruto. **"I'm going to get out of here, and you are not going to do anything about it, got it?"**

It did not notice the girl in its arms take a deep and open her mouth. Lisanna bit down on the large arm holding her, stopping whatever the yellow monster was going to say as it went cross-eyed, screaming in pain.

Seeing the monster's attention elsewhere, Naruto dashed forward, sending a burst of wind from his feet in an attempt to boost his speed. It worked and he was in front of the monster before it even knew it. Concentrating Magic Energy into his right palm and weaving it to make a swirling blue ball, the size of an apple, he thrust orb forward with a war cry, slamming it into the monster's stomach.

"Spiraling Sphere!"

The Jargon was hit with so much pain it released Lisanna and its eyes rolled back into its head. The spinning blue ball exploded, though not in all directions. All of the force was directed forward into the monster. The Jargon was sent flying backwards at startling speeds, spinning like a top, only stopping when it crashed into the canyon wall with enough force to bring the entire vertical surface down on top of it.

Naruto stood there, panting and sweat pouring off of him. The blonde fell backwards, the attack completely exhausting him. Yet despite not being able to move well, he could not keep the smile off his face. _"I actually got it to work!"_

"Aniki!" Lisanna called, worry etched in her voice as she kneeled next to the fallen blonde. She became utterly confused when he saw he was smiling. "Why are you so happy?"

"It's *pant**pant**pant* nothing, kid. Don't *pant* worry about it. Now help me up." He held up an hand, which Lisanna took and pulled him to his feet, but he needed support to stay up. "I feel like crap. Who knew that move tired me out so much." The pair began to move back out of the canyon, the white-haired girl supporting her tired partner.

"Well, we completed the job at least." Lisanna sounded happy, getting a laugh out of Naruto.

"True." He looked at the girl out of the corner of his eye. "So, what you'd think of my Magic?"

"You've only been using it for a few months, right?" Naruto nodded, getting a small shiver of fright from Lisanna. "Scary, no wonder Nee-chan likes you." A moment later, her eyes widened when she realized what she said and quickly slapped her hands over her mouth, inadvertently releasing her grip on Naruto and letting him fall down with a grunt when he hit the ground, but the damage was already done.

"Whoa, rewind, what did you just say?" The blonde asked from his position on the ground, staring up at the girl with wide eyes. "Do you mean to tell me that Mirajane, one of _the_ most frightening people in the world _likes_ me?" Lisanna tried to sputter out some excuse, but Naruto kept talking. "Define 'likes me', 'cause I've had all of five conversations with her, two of which were her yelling at me!"

The young girl was blushing up a storm, her red face contrasting greatly with her white hair. "I'm sorry, you weren't supposed to hear that!" Lisanna then turned and ran away out of the canyon.

"Lisanna!" Naruto called, still on the ground, but was ignored. "Did you mean what you said? Lisanna!" The girl continued to run away. "Lisanna, I still can't feel my legs! Don't leave me here!" He knew that she could hear him, the canyon echoed everything. "Lisanna!"


	3. Cards of the Future

**AN:** Hello once more persons who I will never actually meet.

The poll is CLOSED (I'm just happy that I managed to get it to work). I'll probably take it off my profile tomorrow or something, too lazy to do it now. The finally results on who you want to Naruto to be with are:

**Mirajane** 58 votes » 28%  
><strong>Erza<strong> **Scarlet** 45 votes » 22%  
><strong>Ultear<strong> **Milkovich** 39 votes » 19%  
><strong>Cana<strong> **Alberona** 23 votes » 11%  
><strong>Lucy<strong> **Heartfilla** 16 votes » 7%  
><strong>Levy<strong> **McGarden** 12 votes » 5%  
><strong>Brisca<strong> **Mulan** 6 votes » 2%  
><strong>Evergreen<strong> 5 votes » 2%  
>Total people voted: 76<p>

The poll went pretty much how I expected. Mirajane and Erza are the top two, Evergreen and Brisca are at the bottom. What I didn't expect was for Ultear to come in third.

Based on the reviews it seems most people don't care if this is a harem or not, and those that do care are are it's _two_ against harem and _six_ for harem.

Thank you **flaming-ninja00** for pointing out the badly worded AN last chapter. I think that is because I was dead tired when I wrote that and posted this. Let me rephrase it as Naruto did a job with Lisanna but will have no relationship with him above a friendship. I honestly cannot see her with anyone besides Natsu.

To **Final Black Gatsuga**, the Rasengan will tire him out, at least for now, because I felt he needed a drawback to not spam it all over the place.

Lastly, I wrote this chapter for A: foreshadowing something that will happen sometime in the future and B: because I think Cana is amazing and even if she doesn't get into a relationship with Naruto they will be very good friends at the least. I only realized after I finished this that the first three chapters were all revolving around Naruto and girl, kinda weird how that worked out.

Read & Review  
>Enjoy<p>

* * *

><p><strong><span>Cards of the Future<span>**

"Why am I so tired?" Naruto loudly asked no one in particular as he and Lisanna made it back to Magnolia Town. His dress shirt, once a wonderful orange in color, was now darkened in his sweat and tied around his waist. The lack of a log-sleeve shirt exposed his Fairy Tail guild mark on his right forearm and a torso that was more muscled then what you would expect on a fourteen-year-old boy, the green crystal still hanging around his neck.

"At least you can walk on your own now." Lisanna commented, walking beside the blonde boy.

"I guess so." The two of them were heading to the guild to get paid. They had spent the night in a motel as by the time they finished with the Jargons it was already night. So bright and early the next morning, they were already on the move again. "I'm not doing that again anytime soon. Actually, no, I'm not doing any jobs for at least a week. I haven't been to my house for almost a month."

"You have a house?" The girl next to him asked, sounding somewhat surprised. "I would have thought you would just live in an apartment."

The blonde gave a small laugh. "Nah, I don't like the idea of living in the same building with a bunch of strangers. I built a house in the north forest, there's barely anything out there besides bugs and a maze of plants. I doubt anyone could find my place unless I was there to guide them."

Lisanna nodded, mentally noting that she would not try and search for Naruto's house by herself, lest she get lost. Though she did wonder what would posses a man to live so far away from other people. So caught up in that train of thought, she almost missed that they had once more entered the guild building.

"Master, job finished." Naruto said to the short man sitting on the bar with a smile, one that Makarov returned.

"That's good news." The elderly man scratched the back of his head. "What was the job again?"

Naruto face palmed and Lisanna laughed at their Master's antics. "Monster extermination, Tanba Canyon. The reward was 280,000 Jewels."

"Ah yes, yes." Makarov seemed to remember now, though it was questionable if he actually did or not. "Well good job, do you want the reward now or at the end of the week."

"Now please." Lisanna said with a smile.

"End of the week, add it to all of the other rewards I got." Naruto said, getting a nod from the Master, who told one of the guild employees to go get Lisanna's part of the reward.

Naruto patted the girl on the shoulder before turning around to leave. It was always strange, compared to most of the guild members, who were very loud most of the time, Naruto was never really noticed unless he wanted to join a good brawl or you happened to see him. A good example of this was just then when the doors were thrown open loudly by Natsu, followed by the boy yelling, "Naruto, fight me!"

"No, I'm tired." Was the blonde's instant reply, startling a few people around him who did not know he was there. Naruto could move as silent as the dead when he wanted to, and even sometimes when he does not.

"Ah ha, you are here!" Natsu shouted, not seeming to hear what the older boy had just said. The rose-haired boy's hands burst into flames and he jumped at Naruto. The only problem was moments after his feet left the ground, he suddenly found himself smashed into a wall, courtesy of Erza.

Naruto blinked at the sight of Natsu, who groaned in pain, Lisanna and Happy rushing to his side. He then looked at Erza and gave her a smile. "Thank you."

"You are welcome." The redhead said back with a nod. Naruto was about to try and leave again when she spoke again. "Fight me."

All noise in the room silenced and everyone focused on Erza, Naruto included. She had never challenged anyone; her arguments with Mirajane did not count, as they never escalated to fights.

"Excuse me?" Naruto asked.

"I want to fight you." Erza said with a completely serious face.

"Hey, like hell you can fight him!" Another voice called out. Even if you did not recognize it, the murderous look on Erza's face would have told you who it was.

"You have nothing to do with this, Mirajane!" The armor-clad girl yelled at her rival, who was now standing next to her.

"Yes I do!" The punk-looking girl yelled back. "This bastard took Lisanna out on a job without telling me, so I get to kill him! Deal with it!"

"No! I called it first!"

Naruto looked between the girls, confused on why they were fighting on who would fight, it did not make much sense when he thought about it. He did not mind fighting them, any other day he would have agreed to fight Natsu, but he was sore, tired, and ready to collapse right now. "I'm not going to fight either one of you."

The two stopped bickering and turned to silently glare at the blonde. In almost perfect unison, both girls turned fully to him and crossed their arms. They seemed to be daring him to continue, with punishments unknown.

"_With what I'm about to do, I'm either the bravest man to ever live, or the stupidest."_ Naruto shook his head to rid of those thoughts and met the girls' glazes even. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in top condition." He gestured to his dried-sweat covered, shirtless form. Surprisingly enough the girls both grew small blushes, though whether it was from what they were seeing or embarrassed that they did not notice it before, was anyone's guess. "I'm tired and sore from saving your sister," He pointed at Mirajane. "-from being eaten. So if you want to fight me be here at the end of the week when I come back from resting and I'll fight you then." With that, Naruto walked around the two girls and left the guild.

Erza and Mirajane looked at one another. "Why wasn't he wearing a shirt?" The white-haired one of them asked possibly the most insignificant question she could.

The armor-wearing girl shrugged, surprisingly not starting another argument. "Maybe he's taking after Gray."

* * *

><p>Cana Alberona had been in Fairy Tail since she was six, a rather early age to join a guild. And it was once more that time of year when the Master -aided by any S-Class Mages he had on hand- began to choose possible candidates for the S-Class Promotion Trial. It was also the time that her friends knew as Cana's depression time. It was her dream to be an S-Class Mage, and no matter how often she trained or how many jobs she did she never felt like she was closer to achieving it, leaving as just a dream.<p>

The brunette was currently in one of her favorite spots when she felt the need to be alone, the forest north of Magnolia. The trees in this particular forest were rather large; easily having a wider diameter than any adults could reach around. There was also a lack of any wildlife, though the reason was a mystery.

She sat on the ground beneath a maple tree, the helicopter-like seeds falling around her. It was a strange serine type of peace. Scattered before her were various Fortune Telling Cards. It was a habit she picked up after he mother died to be constantly finding out what she could about her comrades' futures; in hopes they would never leave her. "Let's see what will happen to Luxus." She muttered to herself, certain no one was around to hear her. She flipped a card, showing a smiling imp. "The Joker." Cana gave a laugh. "Look's like he'll have bad luck." She flipped the last card to show tower, but the colors were revered; blue was red, white was yellow, and so on. "Or maybe not, Reverse Tower means it's the opposite… So he'll have good luck?" Putting a finger to her chin, she thought about what that could mean. "Maybe he'll be nominated for S-Class. He might even win it." She gave a longing sigh and gathered her cards.

"Cana?" The voice made her jump slightly. Turning around she saw a familiar blonde standing not to far away. And while she questioned why his shirt was currently tied around his waist, she was more surprised as to how he found her.

"Naruto? You finished your job with Lisanna?"

The boy gave her a smile. "Yeah. Tired me out though so I'm going to stay home for a while. Why are you here?"

"I come here to relax." Cana began to nervously shuffle the cards in her hands. She had talked with Naruto a little, gone on one job with him, and even from that one time seeing him fight she new she was out of her league trying to be his equal in terms of strength. The blonde had pulverized a Vulcan with one spell, something she felt she could never come close to doing. At another reminder of how weak she was Cana grew depressed again.

"You want to come to my place?" The brunette's head snapped up at the question, obviously surprised. "It's not far from here and is probably more comfortable than sitting on the ground."

She had to think over what she was hearing. Invited over to his house? She was never been invited to anyone's house before. While she was a friend with Natsu and Gray, and to some extent Elfman, they only talked at the guild or on the occasional job together. Plus she knew that Natsu lived with Lisanna and Happy in that straw house they built behind the guild, Mirajane probably lived with Elfman and she scared the crap out of Cana, and Gray's house would probably have clothes scattered everywhere, and no matter how much she liked the boy, she did not want to see piles of his underwear everywhere.

Nodding slowly, she saw the smile on Naruto's face grow. "Great." He said. "Follow me, it might take a minute or so."

The blonde turned and walked farther into the forest, Cana silently following. The boy made wild turns at seemingly random points, making her wonder if he was lost, but he never slowed down or made any other motion to show he did not know where he was going.

Not long after, Cana could hear water bubbling. Following the blonde around one more turn, she found the house she assumed belonged to him. "You live here?" She asked, sounding incredulous.

Naruto shrugged. "Whenever I can, though usually I just sleep on the road while doing jobs." He then looked around and gave a sharp whistle. A minute passed in silence and Naruto gave a sad sigh. "Looks like he's not here."

"Who?" Cana could not help herself but ask.

"A fox. I met him a while ago and he sometimes stays in the area. But I guess I've been gone to long and he left for good." Naruto frowned and looked around one more time, but still saw no sign of the small animal.

Not knowing anything else to do, Cana put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. "I'm sure he'll come back sooner or later."

Naruto gave her a smile before looking back at his house. "So, what do you think of it? The house I mean."

Cana looked at the wooden structure. "It looks kind of unstable."

The blonde gave a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I guess that's to be expected. I did build it from scratch."

"You made it?" This surprised Cana. While the house did look unstable, it looked built better than she thought a child could do. It was pure wood, probably made from the maple trees in this forest, and was held over a river that ran through the forest by large wooden beams. It looked to only be one room and had a few windows. A wrap around patio surrounded the base with a wooden bridge leading to the shore. The roof was tiled, albeit not perfectly, but still well enough to keep and rain or whatnot out. "Doesn't it get cold?"

Naruto shrugged again. "Not really, the walls and roof are thick enough that it keeps most of the heat in. But I haven't been here for winter yet so I don't know." He led Cana up the bridge and acted the gentleman by opening the door for her. "I add details and other things whenever I can."

The brunette nodded as she walked over the wooden floor, surprised that it did not creak at all. As she guessed, the inside was only one room. The ceiling peaked about thirteen feet above the floor. Along the left wall was a large futon with a single comforter and a pillow. In the corner, hanging from a string were a few sets of the same clothes Naruto wore now and small dresser that looked to also be made by Naruto sat under them. There was a hammer and a cup filled with nails on the dresser. Other than that there was nothing else in the house. While Cana was slightly confused as to why there was so little, she saw that it was surprisingly clean. Only now did she think of a question and felt a blush rising to her cheeks. "Um, Naruto?"

"Yes?" The blonde closed the door and looked at the blushing girl, confused.

"How do you use the toilet?"

Naruto blinked before giving a nervous laugh. "We're in the middle of the forest." He said. "No one really cares what you do out here." Cana nodded at that, the red in her cheeks fading only slightly. "So what were you doing before I found you?" Naruto asked, untying the shirt around his waist and laying it on the floor. He sat on the smooth maple floor, Cana doing so as well.

"I was reading peoples fortunes." She admitted, slightly embarrassed. "It's something I do to pass the time."

"Are they ever right?" Naruto tilted his head to the side. He was fascinated by the prospect of someone being able to see the future.

Cana nodded. "Always, though not always how you would expect. And sometimes I read the cards wrong so…" She trailed off, embarrassed again.

"Have you ever read my fortune?"

"No… Would you like me to?" Cana asked with a smile. Most people either did not want to be told their fortune, or did not believe her when she told them. But since it was one of the only things she was good at, she liked to use it often.

"Sure." Naruto responded more enthusiastically than anyone she remembered, making her smile grow slightly.

"Okay then, here I go." Closing her eyes and holding the deck, she channeled her Magic Energy into them before shuffling them at a rapid pace in various ways. Stopping in the shuffling, she quickly drew some cards from the top and flicked them out. Opening her eyes she saw that three cards were drawn and arranged in a straight line between her and the blonde boy. "Let's see what we got here." She flipped the card closest to Naruto, only for her breath to hitch upon seeing a picture of a man's silhouette with a crown.

"What's that mean?" Naruto asked, seeing the picture as well but not Cana's reaction.

"It's the King, it can mean a few things." She said, trying to avoid the question. She remembered the last time she flipped that card, at the time also thinking about Naruto. Remembering the other card she flipped before was, she grabbed the card closest to her and turned it over. "And this one is the Battle." She told the blonde, seeing the picture of two swords clashing. She also remembered how she did not flip the third can the last time, was this prediction that important to get it twice? That had never happened before. Suppressing her nervousness and hoping the last card was not the Death, Cana turned the middle card. Only that upon doing so did she blink in confusion. "What the hell?"

"What is it?" Naruto asked, completely lost. He looked at the card that made the young girl curse. It was a picture of two cats, one white, one purple, in a sort of embrace with a heart between them. "What's that mean?" He asked Cana, only to see her completely zoned out. "Cana? You in there?"

The brunette continued to stare at the card, confused beyond all belief. She had expected it to be something regarding the fight to be the strongest, but could she have been wrong all together. "Sorry." She said, coming out of dreamland. "That's the Lovers."

"So then what's my future?" The blonde looked away from the cards, as they made no sense whatsoever to him, in favor of looking at the girl before him.

"Well, um, I guess that there will be a, um… Okay I have no idea." Cana looked at the floor in depression. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Naruto giving her a reassuring smile.

"Just tell me what you know, maybe I could help."

The brunette nodded, cheering up slightly, and pointed at the first card. "The King means either the leader or the strongest of a group. I'm guessing this means you since everyone says how you're the strongest in our age group." Naruto nodded in understanding and told her to continue. "This is the Battle." Cana pointed at the card. "It's fairly obvious what that should mean." Naruto nodded again. "At first I figured it meant that there would be a fight for the title of strongest, which would probably be between you, Erza, and Mirajane." He nodded again. "But this one," She pointed to the third and final card. "-I have no idea what to think of this now. The Lovers could mean a couple of things, all revolving around love."

"Then it could mean the strongest will fall in love?" Naruto asked, blushing slightly if that was supposed to be him.

"Maybe, but I don't think so." Cana said, not noticing Naruto's slightly depressed look. The brunette ran her finger along the three cards. "They are arranged in a straight line, meaning that they will happen in a very specific order. Like the 'King' will fall in love and then fight someone."

"Or the reverse where there will be a fight, then love, then the 'King'?" Naruto finished, more as a confused question. Neither of those sounded likely, and he got confused just thinking about how that would occur.

Cana gave one more confused look at the cards before sighing and putting them back into the deck. "Sorry, Naruto. I don't know what to make of it."

"Hey it's okay." Naruto tried to reassure her. He would like to know his future, but it was not really a concern. If she could tell him his past then he would be more forceful, but that's another story.

"No, it's not okay." Cana yelled back suddenly, catching Naruto off guard. "This is the only things I'm good at and now I can't even do this now." Cana pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them, putting her in the classic fetal position. "Maybe I should just give up in being a Mage."

"Whoa, whoa, stop right there!" Naruto looked at her, shocked that the usually lively Cana of all people would say that. "Where is all of this coming from?"

"It's coming from the truth." Cana said back, much quieter, and looked away to not meet the blonde's eyes. "You did a job with me before, you saw how little I can actually do in a fight."

Naruto looked at the girl, not saying anything. He could not remember much of what she did, as he was busy fighting elsewhere, but he knew she took out at least one Vulcan. Standing up, the boy opened up the door and looked back at her. "Come on."

Cana finally looked at him, confused. "What?"

He rolled his eyes before walking back over to Cana and picking her much lighter frame up, much to her protest.

"What are you doing? Put me down!" She shouted, wiggling in his grasp.

Naruto carried her outside and put her on the grassy ground feet first, taking a few steps back and crossing his arms. "Show me what you've got." He almost laughed at the confused look she gave him, who knew Cana could look that cute. "I know for a fact that you were able to take out one of those monkeys on our job together so show me how you did it."

Cana looked nervous of all things. She looked at her feet for a moment before pulling her deck of cards out again and fanning them out. Looking for only a few seconds, she spotted the cards she wanted and drew it. The card showed a picture of yellow and green lightning bolts. The brunette pointed the card at a nearby tree. "Lightning!" True to the name, a bolt of lightning shot from the card and struck the tree, leaving a large burn spot. "There, that's it."

Naruto looked at where the lightning struck. "You're a long-range fighter." He noted, getting a nod from Cana. "Do you have any other offensive cards?" He asked, looking back at her.

She gave a nod. "A few, but none are very powerful. A lot of my cards don't really do anything in battle."

The blonde tried to think of something Cana could do to get stronger. He liked the brunette, he easily could say she was a friend and did not want her to quit being a Mage just because she thought she was weak. The most obvious solution would be to teach her a different type of Magic, but he found that most people had trouble when learning a second Magic. Gildarts was an excellent example of this. He was the strongest member of Fairy Tail, second only to Makarov, and he only had one type of Magic. Again, Naruto had to wonder how he himself could already use two types of Magic.

He looked back at Cana as she nervously shuffled her cards again. What else could he do? His eyes lit up when he thought of something. It was rather stupid but it could work. "Cana," He said, getting the girl's attention. "What happens when you use more than one card at once?"

"What?" The brunette blinked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Here, can I see you cards?" Naruto asked, holding out his hands. Cana looked a bit reluctant, but handed her cards to the blonde boy. "What I mean is like this." He chose three cards without looking at them and handed them to Cana. "Do the same thing you did before but with all of those."

Cana looked from the boy to the cards. It was a simple idea, but she doubted it would work. She looked at the cards and saw they were Lightning, Lovers, and Reverse Tower. Glancing over at Naruto, she saw him giving her an encouraging smile. Sighing, she pointed the three cards at the same tree as before. "Here goes nothing." She muttered and activated the cards.

What Cana expected to happen was nothing, or maybe a bolt of lighting as that was one of the three cards. Naruto did not know what he was expecting, but he wanted it to be powerful. What actually happened surprised both of them. It could be described as a pseudo lightning storm. Dozens of thick streaks of electricity shot out. While the previous bolt of lightning burnt the tree and probably would hurt like hell if it hit a person, this attack _destroyed _the tree, along with the three behind it.

Not preparing for anything close to this, Cana was promptly knocked onto her ass while Naruto loudly yelled, "Yes! I am a genius!"

The brunette did not hear his words, or anything for that matter. She was too mesmerized by the smoldering remains of the tree. _"I did that?"_ She looked at the cards in her hands, remembering them for later use. Her gaze then went to Naruto, who was still cheering and a large smile nearly split her face in half. Cana jumped to her feet and wrapped her arms around the blonde, nearly crushing his ribcage in her hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"C-Cana… need… air." Naruto managed to get out as he was starting to grow lightheaded.

The brunette released him and took a step back, going into a deep bow. "Thank you, Naruto." She said one last time, still smiling.

"No… problem." Naruto said, taking deep breaths of the oxygen around him. "Here." He held up her deck, getting a confused look. "I bet you that there's more than one combination of cards in this deck. You need to find them soon."

Her eyes lit up at the prospect of even more powerful techniques and she quickly swiped her cards back and fanned them out, looking through them. "Can I stay here and practice?" She asked, looking back up. "I don't want to accidentally destroy the guild or something."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure, just don't damage my house."

She nodded and ran a little ways into the forest, but still within distance of the house. She had a certain skip in her step that Naruto did not remember ever seeing her have before. "Hope she doesn't hurt herself." He said, already seeing flashes and explosions through the trees. "… Or me."

* * *

><p>Cana lay there, panting, a thin sheen of sweat covering her person. "That… was… amazing."<p>

"I'll say." Naruto said to her left. "You sure you've never done that before? You were damn good at it."

She laughed, and probably would have blushed at the praise had her face not already been red from the strenuous activity. "Very sure." She then turned to lightly glare at the blonde. "Besides it was your idea."

"Are you saying you would rather I didn't show you how to do it and left to you to figure it out on your own?" He gave her a mocking look. "It wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly as it did otherwise."

"Idiot." She muttered. She tried to sit up, only to find she lost feeling in most of her body. "Um… help?" Again, she probably would have blushed, this time in embarrassment, had she not already had a red face.

A sigh came from Naruto as he shook his head, seeing her predicament. "What would you do without me?" He bent down and picked her up in a bridal carry, though there was noticeably less kicking and screaming then the last time. "I'll drop you off at your place for the night." He began to walk in the direction of town. "You know, I was in a similar position to you on my last job with Lisanna, only she left me there for an hour until she came back." When he got no response, he looked down only to see the girl asleep in his arms. "And of course, she fell asleep. Wait… Crap, I don't know where she lives." With no hope in finding her place of living, Naruto, for better of for worse, decided to let her sleep at his house.

After a small trek through the woods, walking over a bridge, and detaching the girl's surprisingly strong grip from the new shirt he put on, Cana was laying on his futon with the comforter covering her small form. Naruto also took the elastic band Cana used to keep her long hair in a ponytail off, figuring it would be more comfortable.

Momentarily mesmerized by the person sleeping in his bed, Naruto was only brought out of his thoughts when he saw the room was growing dark as the sun set. "Well this is great. Where will sleep?" He asked aloud. He was still tired from the job and needed a good nights rest. His eyes drifted to the futon that was big enough for three people, partially occupied by Cana. "I must have a death wish." He said after a moment of thinking, kicking off his shoes. "If she wakes up before I do, I'm dead, I know it."

* * *

><p>Sunlight shining into her eyes it what woke the brunette the next morning. Giving a light groan of annoyance, she turned to the other side, pulling the comforter with her. Only the sound of rushing water alerted her to something wrong. She thought maybe she left the faucet on before she went to sleep and groggily opened her eyes. The moment she realized she was not in her own dorm at Fairy Hills, the girl's dorm available to all female members of Fairy Tail, she started to panic. It took her a moment but she eventually remembered that she had been at Naruto's the day before.<p>

"_Did I spend the night here?"_ She thought as she stood up. She did not see the blonde anywhere but the door was open so she assumed he was outside. Walking outside and stepping onto the patio, she cupped her hands around her mouth and called out to the missing blonde. "Naruto, where are you?"

"Over here!" The answer came nearby to her right. Confused, she walked along the patio to the adjacent side of the house. Naruto was sitting there on the edge of the rail-less patio with his feet dangling over the edge and a fishing rod in his hands. "Hey." He gave her a smile.

"Hi." She sat next to him, though kept her feet from going over the edge of the wood, fearing that something in the river would bit them. "What are you doing?"

"Fishing." Was his simple answer. "It's the only thing I can do out here for breakfast, or food in general." He looked back at the bobber floating on the river. "So, how'd you sleep?"

"Good. I think your futon is more comfortable than my own bed. Sorry for taking it by the way." The brunette blinked as she thought of something. "Wait, where did you sleep?"

Naruto bit his lip and silently cursed his luck. "Well, um, I kid of- Hey I got something!" Apparently his luck was not as bad as he thought, as right at that moment he felt a strong tug on the fishing line. Jumping to his feet, he pulled hard on the line. "Dammit, it's a strong one!"

In an attempt to help, even if she had no doubt she was very physically weak, Cana jumped to her feet as well and grabbed onto the fishing rod as well. Much to her dismay, the fish was strong enough that she felt her feet sliding towards the water. "What kind of fish is this strong?" She said through gritted teeth.

"Okay, no more mister nice guy!" The blonde next to her yelled out. "Cana, hold it steady for me!"

"What?" She shouted back, her eyes wide at somehow knowing what he was going to do. "Don't you dare leave me here! Naruto, stop that look! I don't care what you're going to do if you let go of this rod I will kill you!" Her warning went unheard as the Wind Mage released his grip on the fishing pole and jumped off the patio. "Naruto!" Cana pulled the rod back with all her might, but she could still feel her feet sliding forward, only much faster now.

Naruto, currently midair over the fishing bobber, took such a deep breath that his head seemed to momentarily expand. "Tempest Cannon!"

* * *

><p>Naruto focused on the outdoor fire, looking anywhere but at the brunette adjacent to him. The fish, which was bigger then he was, was now dead and hanging over the fire, cooking. Also over the fire, though not for cooking purposes, were Cana's dress and undergarments.<p>

"I said I was sorry, right?" The blonde meekly asked, still not looking at the girl.

Cana gave no verbal answer, and he was not looking so he could not see if she moved or not. The card user was currently wrapped in his comforter leaving only her head visible, her hair still a bit damp.

The wind attack had killed the fish, but it was not soon enough to stop the brunette from falling into the river, where she was fully soaked.

After getting out of the water, she proceeded to yell at Naruto for about twenty seconds before she realized his eyes were not on her face. Upon looking at herself, she was mortified to find her, now wet, dress was clinging her skin. Cana then turned three different shades of red, kicked Naruto, and ran into his house, as it was the closest place for privacy. She was only glad that they were in the middle of the woods and the only person around to see her like this was an idiot she was certain she could keep quiet.

For Naruto it went by more in flashes. He felt a pull on his fishing pole, he thought Cana had a good grip on it so he took a more offensive tactic and used Magic. Just to be on the safe side and make sure their breakfast did not get away, he used an extra powerful spell. He did not want Cana to starve while waiting for another fish to bite. Both he and breakfast had managed to land on the shore from the shockwave. He was quiet surprised he got out of that without getting wet in the slightest. He tried looking for Cana, only to not see her anywhere. For a moment he was worried before the brunette rose out of the water and he was treated to a rather… interesting sight. While he knew Cana was angry with him for some reason, her words went in one ear and came out the other as his mind was focused on how her dress was clinging to her like a second skin. Who knew a thirteen-year-old girl could be so well endowed? He certainly did not, at least not until now. He then felt something impact his shin and the next thing he knew the wet, pissed, and overall pleasant sight that was Cana, was inside his house. About a minute later, she came out, wrapped in his comforter hung her clothes next to the fish over the fire he had made. Now Naruto dare not look at Cana as he thought she was still mad and whenever he tried to his mind flashed to an image of her soaked form.

"Well seems like the fish is done." He weakly said. Making sure not make eye contact with Cana, he stood and he tore off a good size piece and handed it to the girl before tearing off a piece for himself.

They ate in silence, Naruto not knowing what to say, and Cana just not wanting to talk. The fish was good, a bit underdone in the blonde's opinion but still good.

"You need plates."

"What?" Naruto looked up upon hearing Cana speak.

"You need plates." She repeated. "If I'm going to be coming back here you better have plates and silverware." She took another bite out of the fish in her hands. "I am not going to eat with stuff with my hands if I don't have to."

"You're coming back?" Naruto was surprised by this and finally looked at Cana's face, seeing her giving a small smile. He had thought this had ruined whatever it was between the two of them, was he wrong?

"Of course I'm coming back." Her smile became a teasing one. "Where else will I be able to test all of my dangerous new spells? I can even use you to help me hit a moving target."

"… Right." Naruto could not tell if she was joking or not, so he did not know if he was in any imminent danger.

"Now turn around."

The blonde blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why?"

"Because I'm going to get dressed you idiot!" The brunette glared at him.

"R-Right, sorry." He did as asked and turned around. The sound of cloth being discarded, could be heard as she unwrapped herself from the comforter. He was tempted to try and sneak and look at her, but that was squashed when she spoke again.

"Peep on me and I will use every new combination of cards I came up with yesterday on you before you can even comprehend what happened."

Naruto swallowed loudly. "Where do you keep those cards anyway?"

The familiar sound of cards being shuffled could be heard. "Close."

"_This is supposed to be my week off!"_ Naruto mentally ranted. _"Why have I had more threats on my life in one day then I have on any mission before?"_ He sighed loudly. "This is going to be a long week."


	4. God and Dragon

**AN: **Hello my (probably not so) faithful readers. For those who are wondering why I am so late to update and actually care about it, I've been on vacation for almost two weeks and most of the time I've been home I've been sleeping (curse you timezone changes!). So yay for going to the middle of nowhere with no technology and climbing mountains.

Lots of stuff to say in this AN

Someone asked me of the ages of characters in here. This currently takes place roughly seven years before canon starts so the basic age of poeple are:

Naruto: 13  
>Natsu: ? (I have no idea how old he is in the first place)<br>Erza: 12  
>Cana: 11<br>Mirajane: 12  
>Happy: 1<br>Lisanna: 10  
>Elfman: 11<br>Luxus: 15  
>Gildarts: 38<br>Makarov: Old

I probably put more there than you care about but that was just to give you a feel of everyone's age.

Next, apparently everyone who reviews now agrees with a harem (I actually had two people suggest I do a harem, probably because they don't read my AN but then again who does?). It will not be large and so I'm going to put in the top for of my previous poll:

Erza  
>Mirajane<br>Ultear  
>Cana<p>

So they will be in the harem. Ultear might be a challenge as even though I'm caught up with the manga I still can't quiet grasp her personality. I've even watched some of the anime and I still find her confusing. Plus there's a good chance she'll go to jail after the Promotion Trial so it may be very difficult. I will try but no certainties on her. The other three are 100% go for now, but a real relationship won't start until quiet some time into this story.

Someone brought up why I don't just let Naruto manipulate wind instead of using techniques and this is something I've been meaning to bring up. The only people I can think of in the manga that can do that are Gildarts, Makarov, Jose, Hades, Bluenote, and Jura. So the way I see it the ability to use Magic without saying its name means that you're damn strong and Naruto is nowhere near that level yet. Plus the only God Slayer that we know exists has to say the name of the Magic he's using.

Speaking of Naruto's Magic, as I had a lot of adrenaline in me from my trip when I wrote this I couldn't help but put in two fighting sequences, both of which are pretty pointless except to showcase some of his Magic. (It should also be noted that the adrenaline probably made me not notice many spelling and grammar mistakes. It may have also lowered my writing standard that I didn't even know I had.) Also, because I felt like it and no other reason, have started to make a list of Naruto's Magic on my profile page that I will update after every chapter where a new spell is shown. Hopefully that will clear some things up.

Read & Review  
>Enjoy<p>

* * *

><p><strong><span>God and Dragon<span>**

Cana, her hair now dry, tied the long brown strands back into a ponytail. The two of them, meaning Naruto and her, had ate almost all of the fish, all the while talking and laughing. The aquatic animal was surprisingly good and she did not realize how hungry she was until after the first bite. When they had finished, Naruto had led her to the edge of the forest, Magnolia Town in clear sight, said good-bye and went back to his house. So now the brunette was almost at the doors to Fairy Tail. Just as she was about to grab the door handles, they flew open and someone ran out, knocking Cana down in the process.

She cursed slightly and was about to yell at whoever it was, only to see them too far away to hear her. Though the pink hair and flying blue cat gave away who it was. "What the hell got him so fired up?" Cana wondered to herself as she stood back up.

"Natsu!" Lisanna yelled, coming out of the guild, stopping when she could not see the boy.

Someone else's laughter could be heard, which was soon proven to be Mirajane as she walked out and stood next to her sister. "I kind of wish I could follow him just to see his ass get kicked." The older white-haired girl said with a smile.

"Do either of you know where he's going?" Cana asked, getting the two of them to notice her for the first time.

"Yeah." Mirajane gave a soft laugh. "Lisanna told him that Naruto lived in the northern forest. Now the idiot is going to go find him and challenge him to a fight."

"Why can't he ever just wait?" Lisanna said quietly. "Aniki said he would be back in a week."

"I doubt he'll be able to get to Naruto." Cana said, getting a confused look from Mirajane and a worried one from Lisanna. "It's near impossible to navigate to his house." The brunette clarified. "The only way he'll be able to meet Naruto is either dumb luck or if Naruto finds him."

Mirajane gave another laugh. "So he'll get lost before he even gets to fight? That's rich!"

"How do you know where Naruto lives?" Lisanna asked, internally arguing if she should go after her 'husband' or just hope he does all right on his own.

Cana shrugged. "I stayed the night there." Figuring there was nothing else she needs to say to the two sisters, the brunette walked into the guild. She felt like doing a solo job, something she had never done before as she felt she was too weak. But now with her sudden increase in spells, she was willing to give it a try, though not on a very difficult one.

"Maybe I should go after Natsu." Lisanna said, looking out the way she assumed the boy and cat had gone. When she got no response from her older sister, she turned and saw Mirajane standing there with a blank look on her face. "Mira-nee-chan, are you okay?"

Mirajane narrowed her eyes in apparent anger before abruptly turning and stomping back into the guild. "Hey, bitch!" Most of the people, Lisanna included, thought she was referring to Erza. Thus they were all confused when she was glaring at Cana. "Why the hell were you spending the night at Naruto's?"

* * *

><p>"<em>Ah, peace and silence."<em> Naruto took a deep breath as he lay on the ground next to the river his house sat over. _"No animals, no people, just me and the nature around me."_ His arms were bent behind his head and his eyes were closed. _"Even better I have an entire week where I have to do absolutely nothing as I get back my strength."_ The bubbling of the water, the random splashes of fish jumping out of the water, even the slight buzzing of bugs, it was all very calming to the blonde. _"Ah who am I kidding?"_ Naruto's eyes snapped open and he jumped to his feet, giving a long stretch. _"I was perfectly recharged this morning. I can't even stay still to save my life."_ He stopped stretching and unbuttoned his shirt, throwing at away lest it get sweaty like the last one. The blonde curled his hands into fists and proceeded to repeatedly punch a tree as hard as he could to warm up. _"Though I do have six more days where no one is expecting me, maybe I can learn another Magic that Fujin gave me."_ He really did not want to try and learn the next spell for Spiraling Sphere, as the weakest one made him almost lose an arm when it went wrong. He did not even want to think about what might happen if he messed up a much stronger version of it. He knew enough of the Wind God Slayer for now, so there was no need to learn more of that. _"That leaves __Clone__ and __Sage__… I'll go with __Clone__ for now."_

Clone was possibly the simplest Magic of the four he had in his head. But even then it was still somewhat difficult. The Magic made replicas of the user out of any kind of material, as long as they were touching it. For instance, the first spell Water Clone, made an exact duplicate out of water or any kind of liquid that was similar in consistency. As long as the user was touching the liquid, and there was enough of it, the clone would form without a problem. You could even make more than one clone at a time if you were strong enough and had plenty of material. The amount of damage the clone could take before it reverted back to its original matter was based on how much energy you put into making it. You could put in the bare minimum and it would disperse if it was so much as flick it. You could put in a decent amount and it could survive a few good punches. Or you could put in as much as possible and it would only disperse from a fatal hit. It should also be noted that a clone can use the same Magic as the creator, but if it uses to much energy it would disperse.

Making a decision, Naruto stopped punching the now splintered tree and walked over to the river. Kneeling down he put both his hands into the cold rushing water. He closed his eyes and went through the knowledge he had of how to use it.

Moments later, the water began to rise up. Five smaller strands of water branched off, giving it the basic shape of a hand. Another strand of water rose, forming a second arm, followed by a third, larger bulge between the two arms. The third bulge of water continued up, taking the arms with it and creating the torso and head. It then split at the bottom to create the legs. The water person jumped out of the water and onto land, its arms lowering as it started to gain color and more features. The head became more angular instead of the basic sphere it was and spikes grew out of the top. The arms and chest shrunk in some places and bulged in others to mimic the muscles of the original. The legs widened and turned black to show the pants. The entire water became colored to show an exact clone of Naruto, mark of Fairy Tail included.

The original stood and faced the clone, frowning. One would normally be happy when learning a new Magic, but not Naruto. _"Why am I learning this so quickly?"_ He thought to himself, annoyed for some unexplainable reason. He was so annoyed, that he felt the need to relieve his anger by punching something. He rarely got that feeling but when he did he usually went through with it

"What are you glaring at?" The clone asked.

"Why is it so easy for me to learn Magic?" Naruto asked.

"How should I know? I'm you."

"… Good point." Naruto suddenly lashed out and punched the clone across the face.

The clone stumbled a bit before growling and kicking Naruto in the side.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled, holding his bruising side.

"What do you mean 'what the hell'?" The clone yelled back, holding his stinging cheek. "I should be asking you that! You don't just punch someone like that!"

"I can punch you however I want, you're me!" To prove this point, Naruto decked his clone right across the face again. The clone stumbled back but held its form. _"Must have put more Magic Energy into it then I thought."_ He deduced, as it did not revert back to water.

"Okay, that's it!" The clone jumped at Naruto and tackled him to the ground.

The blonde grunted as he hit the ground, dangerously close to falling into the river. Gritting his teeth, he threw his shoulders back and his head forward. The result was both of their skulls contacting, hard. With the clone stunned, the original brought his knee up right between its legs.

The clone sucked in a sudden breath as the knee hit it square in the testicles. In that moment, it was thrown off the original. Naruto jumped to his feet and gave a vicious kick to the clone's head, knocking it further away.

"See? *pant* You don't *pant* screw with yourself!" Naruto shouted at the downed clone, breathing a little harder at the sudden exertion.

The clone stumbled to its feet, water running from a cut on its forehead and left temple like blood would. It appeared though that it did not care about those injuries, as its hands were currently occupied clutching its damaged reproductive system. "What the hell?" It yelled, mimicking Naruto's original question. "You don't kick another man in balls!"

"Everything's legal in a fight with yourself!" Naruto reasoned.

"Oh, really?" The clone asked sarcastically, bringing its hands to its sides and making fists. "Tempest Gauntlets!" Wind enveloped the clone's fists and half its forearms, making it look like it was wearing clear gloves.

"Seriously?" Naruto said in a disbelieving voice, throwing his hands into the air. "You're using Magic now?"

"You said everything is legal." The clone responded, glaring at its creator.

Naruto gave a low growl and glared back. "Fine, if that's how you want to do it. Tempest Gantlets!" The wind surrounded his fist in the same way as his clone.

The Tempest Gantlet was not unlike Tempest Fist only it took more energy to use, as it was continuous. It lasted as long as you had the power to maintain it, unlike Tempest Fist that only worked for a single punch.

The two circled each other, glaring. Tired of waiting, the clone rushed its creator with a punch. Naruto sidestepped the punch and grabbed the arm, quickly pulling it towards him. With the clone off balance, he brought his other hand down on its head. It connected and the wind-enhanced attack left a large gash on the top of the clone's cranium. What Naruto did not expect was a quick recovery as the clone did an uppercut and caught the original's chin. The powerful hit left a cut on Naruto's chin and picked him off the ground by a couple inches. The clone lashed out with another punch to the diaphragm, knocking Naruto away with a grunt of pain and a new cut where the punch landed.

Naruto crashed into a tree and slid to the ground, holding his hand against the cut to hopefully stop any serious bleeding. The wind surrounding his arms dissipated.

"Is that the best you got?" The clone taunted. "If it is that's pretty pathetic."

Naruto's teeth grinded against each other as he struggled to stand, needing to use the tree for support. He glared at the clone, not being able to do much else at the moment.

The clone scoffed. "This is just sad." It ran at its creator, jumping into a perfect roundhouse kick.

Naruto's eyes snapped fully open and he grabbed the attacking leg with both hands. Not wasting a second, he spun and used its momentum to slam the clone into the tree he had hit before. Spinning the other way, he let go and allowed the motion to send the clone flying away where it landed on its side with a grunt. Looking up, Naruto jumped onto a high tree branch, something he could do for as long as he could remember. He jumped onto another, and another, getting higher into the canopy before jumping off directly above the downed clone. "Tempest Greaves!" Wind enveloped his feet and lower half of his shins in a familiar manner. He came down with a strong axe kick.

The clone's eyes widened as it saw this and rolled away just in time to avoid being cut in half from the attack.

"Tempest Gantlets!" Naruto repeated, empowering his arms once more. The blonde punched down at his clone, missing when it continued to roll away. Growling in annoyance, Naruto pivoted to give a low kick but the clone continued to roll away. "Tempest Bullet!" He shot a ball of wind from his mouth, finally hitting the clone and stopping its rolling.

Running forward, wind bursting from his feet to increase his speed, Naruto ran at the clone and brought his foot forward, kicking the clone again. Quickly catching up with the clone, Naruto stomped down on its back to keep it from moving. The clone under him was already beginning to lose its color and turn blue as it 'died'. Feeling it was not enough; Naruto brought both his hands above his head as if he was holding a ball. A small tornado begins to form in the area between his palms.

It turned out that Wind God Slayer had three levels of attacks. The first two were the ones he used the most and were the weakest, like the 'Tempest' spells. The third and stronger type was much harder to learn and control, but so much more powerful.

Naruto looked at the fading clone under his feet, its head turned enough to see one eye looking back. With a war cry, Naruto quickly brought his hands down, the miniature tornado coming with them. Just before the small wind funnel would have hit the clone, Naruto separated his hands and it vanished. For a moment nothing happened and the clone closed its eyes, accepting its fate.

"Wind God's Tower." Naruto said in a blank voice.

Just like that a real, complete tornado shot up, touching the skies. Though unlike his other wind attacks, which were either transparent or gray from dust caught in them, the tornado was porcelain white. If he had to compare it to anything it would be that it looked surprisingly similar to Fujin's hair.

The funnel winds were about twenty feet in diameter with the clone and Naruto in the very center. It tore away the dirt and trees that were to close. Naruto stood there in the center of the funnel, the winds not affecting him, as they were his own. He could not see through the debris flying everywhere, so he waited. A full minute later, the tornado, not having moved an inch, finally vanished. Looking around, the blonde took in the damage.

All of the trees within fifteen feet in every direction were gone; the branches for the any tree he could see were ripped off. Below him all that remained of the clone was a small puddle of water in a shallow crater. A crash drew attention as he saw a tree had landed a little ways to his right. It was probably torn up by the spell and just left. Blinking once to make sure he was not seeing things, Naruto walked over and picked up the tree with a grunt. A sudden smile grew on his face.

"Well that was fun." He said as he began to walk back to the way he knew his house was at. "I am definitely doing that again soon. And even better I now have something to make a new fishing rod out of to replace the one Cana lost." He patted the tree on his shoulder lightly. "Day two of my week off was a success." He started to whistle a light tune as he walked back to his house, not knowing that a little ways away a certain pink-haired boy had seen the tornado and was coming his way.

* * *

><p>Natsu burst through the foliage and into the newly made clearing. He looked around, seeing all the damage but not the man he was looking for. "Damn, must have just missed him." He cursed before taking a large breath through his nose. "Can't follow his scent with the wind blowing it all over the place." A pressure on top of his head drew Natsu's attention. He could see a little blue over his fringes so he had a pretty good idea who it was. "Happy, did you see anything?"<p>

The cat said nothing and shook his head, getting a groan of annoyance from Natsu.

"Fine then, let's go… this way!" The boy ran away in a random direction.

The opposite way that Naruto had gone.

* * *

><p>A loud sigh escaped Makarov's lips as he resisted the urge to rub his forehead, already feeling a headache coming on. "Run it by me… one more time." He gave a light glare to the two people standing before him. "<em>How<em> exactly did this all happen?"

"… We fought." Mirajane said quietly, not meeting the Master's eyes, idly rubbing her left hand along the cast that held her dislocated and burned right arm.

"Yes, I know that. But _why _did you fight?" When it was clear that Mirajane would not say anymore, he glanced over to the other person.

"She started it." Cana said weakly, her one, workable eye glancing around the room nervously while the other was swollen shut. "I didn't even do anything, she just attacked me."

Mirajane sent a glare at the card-user but was stopped from saying anything when Makarov looked back at her. "Is this true?"

"W-Well, yeah! B-But she-"

"See, she admitted it!" Cana interrupted whatever else was going to be said.

The white-haired girl growled at her. "Don't interrupt me you slut!"

"Oh, I'm the slut?" She yelled back turning fully to Mirajane, glaring with her one good eye. "Look at how you're dressed bitch!"

"You're just jealous 'cause I have a figure to show off!" Mirajane also fully faced Cana.

"Figure? What the hell are you talking about? You're twelve dammit, no one has a figure when they're twelve!"

"You certainly prove that point, don't you? No wonder you wear that ugly-ass dress, it actually looks better now that I've ripped it!"

"Why you-"

"Stop it!" Makarov yelled at both of them. The two girls reluctantly stopped yelling and turned back to the Guild Master, glaring at each other out of the corner of their eyes. "I guess that explains how the fight started." He muttered under his breath. "Next question then." Makarov was actually very curious to the answer to this. "How exactly did do so much damage?"

"It wasn't that much." Mirajane muttered.

"You blew out an entire wall of the Guild and destroyed two and a half blocks of town." Makarov deadpanned. "You're just lucky that we were still in the _Gildarts Shift_ or someone might have been seriously hurt." The old man gave Cana a curious look. "And since when could you fight like that?"

"… Since yesterday." The brunette admitted. "I was with Naruto and he thought of a new way to use my cards. I spent the rest of the day trying to find new spells."

Makarov nodded, inwardly happy that at least two of his Mages were getting along. "Well there doesn't seem to be anything else except to punish you both." Mirajane gapped at the Master, she never had to be punished whenever she fought Erza, though those were noticeably less damaging. "Neither of you are able to take in any jobs for the next ten days."

Both the girls grumbled something unintelligible but accepted it.

A knock on the office door drew the attention of the three. "Come in."

The door opened and Erza, wearing bright yellow construction worker clothes, complete with a helmet and boots. "Director, the repairs on the Guild are almost complete."

"_Director?"_ Cana and Mirajane both thought, giving the redhead a strange look. Makarov did not seem to mind being called such.

"That's good." The Master gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, also." Erza disappeared in a flash of light. When it disappeared it showed her in her normal attire. "It seems we have someone who wishes to become a member."

Makarov visibly perked up at this. It was always interesting to get new members. The last one was Naruto and he already had a huge reputation as being strong. Hell even Gildarts thought the young man was strong and when 'Fairy Tail's Ace' says someone's strong, it means he has big things ahead of him. Now it was unlikely that this other new person will have the same power as Naruto, but a new member was still exciting. "Who is it."

Erza coughed to try and hide her nervousness. "I wasn't able to get a name, she ran away when she saw the fighting."

"You sure it wasn't your face that scared her of." Mirajane teased, giving the redhead a mocking smile.

"What was that?" Erza hissed out getting in her rival's face.

"No more fighting." Makarov sent a mild glare at the two girls, both of which quickly looked away with a huff, Mirajane even started to whistle innocently. The aging master gave a tired sigh, he definitely had a headache now. "Oh well, hopefully she'll return." Seeing that nothing else was need and the three girls were just standing there awkwardly, he dismissed them with a wave "You're free to go." They nodded and moved to the door. "Oh and Cana, Mira." The two looked back. "You still can't go on jobs." Cana growled silently while Mirajane muttered a curse.

With the three violent females gone, Makarov sat back in his chair. _"I'm probably going to have to send a written explanation to the council for damaging the town… Bah! It can wait."_

* * *

><p>Naruto whistled happily as he sat on his porch, fishing. That was one of the reasons he built his house over a river; how many people can say they can fish from their porch? It had been another two days since he had made his first clone. After one day he had gotten to the point where he could make five <span>Water Clones<span> simultaneously within a few seconds. He had moved on to try the next spell, Earth Clone. It was much harder to manipulate solid matter as opposed to liquid. Even now he could only make them one at a time after training for a full day.

Any more thoughts were silenced when something ran out of the trees. Well, stumbled should be more like it as whatever it was walked around like a headless chicken for all of three seconds before collapsing on the ground.

Naruto tilted his head to the side upon seeing the strange thing. "Natsu?"

* * *

><p>The blonde stared at the snoring pink-haired boy, idly petting the blue cat resting in his lap. "How long does he intend to sleep for?" He asked Happy, not expecting a response. "Does he always snore like that?"<p>

"Aye." The cat muttered out, looking to be about to fall asleep as well from Naruto's ministrations.

"Figures." He scoffed. He picked up Happy, much to his displeasure, and held it up with both hands under its arms. "You know, all I've ever heard you say is 'Aye'. I wonder if you can say anything else?" The cat looked confused by what he was saying. "Like, can you say 'apple'?"

"Aye."

Naruto blinked in confusion. "Then say it."

"Aye."

"… Are you going to say it?"

"Aye."

"Anytime soon?"

"Aye."

"… How about now?"

"Aye."

"… You can't say it, can you?"

"Aye."

Naruto sighed loudly and put the cat back down. _"Well in his defense he's only like three months old. I doubt anyone can say much at that age so he's pretty smart for a cat as it is."_

Natsu suddenly stopped snoring and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Oh you're awake finally?" The blonde asked rhetorically.

The younger boy looked at Naruto with half-lidded eyes, seeming to still be partly asleep. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes but otherwise did not move. Almost a full minute later his brain rebooted. "Naruto!" He jumped to his feet and dramatically pointed at the sitting blonde. "Fight me!"

Again, Naruto tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

"Everyone says you were the strongest!" Natsu's hands suddenly caught on fire. For most people this would be bad but with the rose-haired boy it was actually possible that he did this without even realizing it. "I spent the last two days searching for you and now we're going to fight!" He gave a sort of battle cry, breathing out a steady stream of fire straight up.

"_Two days?"_ Naruto could only blink dumbly. _"Has he been in the forest for that long? How would he even survive like that?"_ Seeing him now longer pointlessly breathing fire, Naruto stood up with a sigh, Happy grew wings and flew off somewhere else. _"I got nothing better to do, and I don't really want to fight a clone right now."_ "Fine, I'll fight you."

Natsu gave a toothy grin.

"Where do you want to- Whoa!" Naruto had to stop talking and jump to the side to avoid a fire-covered fist. "Right here? We're right next to my house I don't want to fight here- Hey watch it!" Again, he had to avoid a flaming limb, this time a leg.

Natsu growled in annoyance. "Stop dodging and fight!"

"I'm not going to fight you next to my house!" The blonde yelled at his opponent. Natsu did not seem to hear that and gave another punch. "Idiot." Naruto ducked under the punch and violently kicked the younger boy in the side, his foot covered in wind. "Tempest Foot!"

Natsu went flying away, a small cut on his shirt. While he was not badly damaged, as Naruto did not want to hurt him (or his house) too badly, he was knocked far enough away that Naruto felt comfortable fighting him would not damage his home.

The younger boy quickly got back to his feet just in time for a punch to knock him even further back, only this time he managed to land on his feet. Growling, similar to how a dragon would, Natsu threw his own punch. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Flames surrounded his hand, making it look like a fireball.

Naruto met his element-empowered punch with his own. "Tempest Fist!"

Now let it be known that while Naruto is not as dumb as some people *cough*Natsu*cough*, he was not exactly the brightest either. Btu even if he was there was now certainty that he would a certain piece of basic knowledge into a fight, though he probably should considering it concerns his main Magic element. That basic knowledge was that wind makes fire stronger. Granted if a wind is strong enough and a fire is weak enough then the fire would just dissipate, but when they were the same level of strength it can be very bad. It is even worse in this situation where said wind and fire that were about to collide were both freakishly strong.

The result was not good.

**BOOM**

The two boys were shot in opposite directions, while one was immune to the sharp winds but was badly burned, the other was immune to the fire and was badly cut. To resonating crashes were heard as both boys hit the ground, knocking down a few trees on their way there.

Naruto was the first to get up, letting off a small burst of wind to get rid of the now weakened flames that covered his body and the forest around him. With a pained grunt, he stood up and surveyed the damage. _"If we're not careful we might start a forest fire. Looks like no more Tempest spells"_ He spotted Natsu who was just getting up. His shirt was mostly scrap and his arm and part of his chest were covered in shallow cuts. He looked more annoyed than Naruto, but much less caring on the damage. Slowly, a large toothy grin covered his face.

"That was fun, I knew there was a reason I wanted to fight you."

Though confused for a moment, Naruto soon matched his grin, though his looked definitely more fox-like. "I guess I can humor you for a bit longer." He said smugly.

Natsu's cheeks bulged suddenly and he reared his head back. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" Bring his head back down, a torrent of fire shot out of his mouth in a very dragonish fashion.

Seeing the incoming fire, Naruto's own cheeks bugled, though he was careful not to use his Tempest abilities. "Vacuum Great Sphere!" He exhaled what looked like a large bubble of some kind. The bubble suddenly expanded to be larger than he was and shot at the Dragon Slayer's fire. Upon connection, the fire seemed to be sucked into the bubble where it disappeared. While shocked, Natsu had enough common sense to move out of the way. The large bubble hit the trees it violently imploded and the pressure took out quiet a few of them.

Natsu gapped at the fallen trees. His fires were never that easily snuffed out like before.

"Surprised?" Naruto's voice knocked the boy out of his stupor. "Unlike my Tempest techniques that control moving air, my Vacuum techniques work with the _lack_ of air." Though the blonde tried to explain, he could see Natsu's black look. Naruto sighed and tried again. "Fire needs oxygen to burn. I can make and area without air, whether it's a projectile like I just did or like this, Vacuum Coliseum!" Naruto thrust both his hands forward and a giant bubble sprouted from his palms. Half of the bubble sunk into the ground to make a dome-like arena with Natsu in the very center. Lowering his arms, Naruto spoke again, even if Natsu could not hear him in there. "You're fire won't even form inside this. More so you should probably give up if you don't want to suffocate."

Natsu fell to his knees, holding his neck while keeping his lips sealed shut. It seemed that he had taken a big breath before being caught in the oxygen-deprived dome. Despite if Naruto was his enemy he could kill him right now, Natsu looked at the blonde with a spark of something in his eyes. Not anger or hatred but more like he was taking Naruto's words as a challenge and he accepted it. Then again, it was impossible to hear anything in the airless area, so maybe he was giving himself the challenge.

"_Let's see if you can do it, dragon-boy."_

Natsu ran at full sleep directly at Naruto, who did not move from his spot. The Dragon Slayer tilted his head down as if to head butt Naruto. This proved to be a bad idea when his skull bounced off the edge of the bubble like it was a wall and he fell onto his back and rolled around, holding his head in pain. Naruto suppressed his laughter at the amusing sight.

Natsu jumped to his feet and glared at Naruto, or maybe it was the bubble wall. His eyes began to droop due to lack of air. Despite this, or maybe because, he started to punch to translucent barrier. Naruto just looked on, crossing his arms to wait it out. Without strengthening his attacks with fire Natsu was not strong enough to break though the bubble. Natsu seemed to realize this as well and stopped punching, scowling. The rose-haired boy then pressed his face against it like a child would do to a window. Naruto arched a perplexed eyebrow. _"What the hell is he doing?"_

Natsu's lips moved to look as if he was kissing the barrier.

"_This has got to be the strangest fight I have ever been in."_

A small light could be seen from between Natsu's lips, seeming like it was coming from his mouth or throat.

"_What is that light? Wait, did if he took a breath before being caught in this then that mean he has oxygen in his mouth."_

The light grew brighter.

"_Oxygen that is flammable… Damn. Nat bad Natsu, not bad."_

The light burst out of Natsu's in another Fire Dragon's Roar. The mighty flames easily pierced the bubble, popping it loudly and Naruto hand to roll to the side to avoid becoming a flaming turkey.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!" Naruto jumped to his feet and moved away as a fire-covered foot crashed into his previous position, destroying the ground. Natsu righted himself and lunged at the blonde, rearing his arm back. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Naruto ducked under the punch, his hair getting slightly charred, and pushed Natsu into the air. Instead of trying to right himself, Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. "Happy!"

"Happy?" Naruto repeated in confusion just as said small cat came into view. The flying feline grabbed one of Natsu's mush large hands with both of his. In a show of both strength and aerial ability, Happy flipped and let go of Natsu, sending him right back at Naruto at twice the speed. "Well I'll be dammed."

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" This time both of Natsu's hands ignited in flame as he crossed them above his head. Naruto could almost see the image of a dragon in the descending boy.

"_He really does have potential."_ Naruto thought with a small smile. _"To bad I have to ruin his dramatic moment."_ The blonde pulled his arm back and swung it forward as if he was using a whip. "Vacuum Wave!" To go with the movement, a whip-like stream shot from his hand at the other boy.

Seeing the attack coming, Natsu brought his hands down with a battle cry. The fire and oxygen-deprived stream collided. While at first it seemed tied, it soon became a one-sided fight as the fire completely died out and Natsu was smacked away by the wind as if it were a real whip. The younger boy crashed into the ground hard.

Cracking his eyes open, Natsu could see Happy flying in a circle above him, similar to a vulture would. Naruto suddenly obscured his view by stand over him, a large smile on his face. "Not bad Natsu, not bad at all." The blonde said as Natsu drifted into unconsciousness. Just before he did though did he realize that, sans for the explosion their first attacks accidentally caused, he had never managed to hit Naruto.


	5. Fox in the Trees

**AN: **Greetings my fellow internet users. It's been what? Two weeks since I updated? Reason: Laziness and procrastination! Yay! My brain has been working 0% of that time until about yesterday when I wrote this.

Two questions I need to ask and hope someone answers. One: In the cannon when Elfman uses Beast Soul he looks the exact same as he did two years prior when he got it so does that mean Mirajane in the timeline this story is in right now (seven years before cannon) if she uses Satan would she look the same as it cannon or would she look like a chibi demon? Two: Can lighting work inside of a vacuum sealed room or would it just dissipate like fire? (that would really change a battle between Luxus and Naruto if it does)

A few people are now saying I should just drop Ultear even though she came in third in the poll so I'm conflicted on it. What I'll do is make the two of them friends on some level within the next few chapters and then you can decide if you want her in the harem later or not afterwards.

As this story is currently seven years before cannon I'm obviously not going to show every day between those two points. I have a little what I'm going to do worked out but there will be a major timeskip eventually and then it will jump right into cannon, I've already decided when. It will probably be quiet a few chapters before that but if I at least try and keep up with my updates it should be somewhat soon.

Read & Review  
>Enjoy<p>

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><p><strong><span>Fox in the Trees<span>**

A certain blue-eyed, white-haired goddess sat seiza style, having both her legs parallel under her with her large bag by her side. She was sitting in the same clearing she talked to Naruto in, a light breeze fluttering her hair. She took a calming sip of a cup of tea. For all intents and purposes, Fujin looked like a perfect royal woman; combined with her amazing figure she was the perfect woman in every way.

"I still don't understand it." A voice said. The goddess creaked open a lazy blue eye to look at the speaker. "Why can you sit like that, it really doesn't look comfortable no matter how many times I see it."

"My mother always told me to act polite when eating or drinking, even if I did not know anyone else would be coming." Fujin said, not concerned with the newcomer, and took another sip of tea.

The person looked like a child, a very dirty child. He was covered from head to toe in mud and dirt, twigs and leaves sticking out at random places. It was impossible to tell what his hair, skin, or even the clothes he was wearing looked like with all of the sludge covering him. The only thing that really stood out was that he was short, as a child should be, and he had bright crimson eyes, the pupils slit like a cat. He was so short that he was standing at eyelevel with Fujin despite that she was sitting. He gave a small laugh. "Yeah, that woman always had strange sayings."

Fujin glared at the boy. "She also said not to trust a fox."

The boy gripped his chest over his heart in mock hurt. "You wound me Fujin. How could you say such things to your uncle?"

"You're not my uncle, Inari." She took another sip of tea.

The boy, Inari, put a finger to his chin and gained a thoughtful expression. "Uncle Inari, eh?... I like it!" Fujin gave the boy a strange look, silently asking if he was crazy while already knowing the answer. "From now on you will call me Uncle Inari, God of Foxes!"

"No."

Inari stumbled at the quick reply and almost fell off his feet. "Why not?" He asked childishly.

"Because calling you such would suggest two things." Fujin said in an almost bored tone. "That you are my uncle and that I respect you, neither of which are true." Another sip of tea.

A miniature rain cloud appeared over Inari as he wallowed in self-depression. He perked up though and gave a large smile. "Oh yeah, I've been keeping an eye on Naruto." Fujin also perked up as well at hearing this. "He has a very promising future, I'm just glad you gave him enough power to make sure he not a weakling like in the old days." He then seemed to think over his words. "Err, the old days before the old days."

"Now you're confusing yourself." Fujin said in a mocking tone, her lips quirking ever so slightly. "And I don't know what he was like in the 'old days before the old days', but it couldn't be that bad."

Inari gave a tired sigh and finally sat down, accepting that he would be here for a while. "It was worse than that, he was always running around screaming stuff." Fujin tried to picture the blonde man she knew doing that, but for the life of her she could not. "He also said dattebayo a lot."

"Dattebayo?" The goddess asked incredulously. "Does that even have a meaning?"

"Nope, but that only makes it worse. He got it from his mother if I'm not mistaken." Inari got a far away look and stayed like that for a minute. When he refocused, he looked carefully at Fujin. _"I guess that's something you and Naruto have in common; you both got your personalities from your mother."_ Inari took on another thoughtful expression, trying to think of something else from the 'old days before the old days'. "Oh yeah, he wore orange."

Fujin raised a delicate eyebrow. "He's always worn orange."

"No, no, no, it was much worse." Fujin's expression did not change, and Inari was inwardly laughing at what her reaction would be. "He wore this full-body, heavy, bright orange and blue jumpsuit."

Fujin's expression was priceless and sent Inari onto his back laughing. The normally regal woman was bug-eyed, her jaw practically unhinged. "He never told me about that." She said after a minute for her brain to reboot.

Inari gave one final laugh. "Gee, I wonder why." He said sarcastically.

Fujin gave him a light glare, getting over her shock. "Enough about that, what is he like now?" She actually seemed excited to hear how he was doing before she gave Inari a calculating look. "And please tell me that no one followed you."

Inari waved off her concerns. "Don't worry. It was a bitch and a half to get into Earthland, accidentally stumbled into Edolas a few times."

"Does he have a counterpart there?" Fujin suddenly asked.

"Nope, not that I could find." The goddess seemed to accept it and allowed Inari to continue where he left off. "Anyway, if it was that hard for me to get to the right place, there's no ways anyone would be able to follow me without me realizing it. Besides, I haven't gone to him in person, I just send someone to spy on him." Fujin nodded, wanting him to go on. "He already has a girl that has a crush on him." The goddess looked down at that. "You okay?"

"It's just…" She took a calming breath. "… It's strange imagining him with someone else."

Inari relented at that. "I guess I can understand that." His red eyes rapidly blinked. "Actually now that I think about it he has two girls after him, one of them even has white hair." Fujin absently touched her porcelain hair. "They don't really realize their feelings yet, but it'll come to fruition sooner or later."

The goddess nodded and dropped her hand. Inari gave her a moment to recover her mixed feelings.

Inari tired to think of something to lighten the mood. "Oh yeah, he's pretty good friends with a Dragon Slayer."

Fujin looked surprised by this, her bad mood gone for now. "Was he taught by a real dragon or does he have a Lacrima-based Magic?"

"Real thing, taught by the fire dragon, name's uh… Igneel I think."

"Huh." The woman thought for a moment. "I don't know him. Do you know if Grandeeney ever took someone in?"

"I was looking for Naruto, I ain't going to look somewhere else for a kid when I don't even have a damn clue what he or she looks like." He snapped.

"Fair enough, now calm down." She tried to placate the boy.

Inari glared for a moment longer before his face went neutral. "He seems very adept to the Wind God Slayer, though I guess that's not surprising at all." He gave a small laugh at that. "Are you sure you're not overpowering him by giving him that and Clone?"

"If I thought that then I would not have given him those and two others."

"Wait, wait, wait! Rewind! What did you just say?" Inari gaped at the woman, whose eyes seemed to sparkle in amusement at his outburst. "You gave him _four_ types of Magic? What the fuck were you thinking?"

"I would rather not have him die for being too weak to defend himself." Fujin kept the same bored tone, but on the inside she was laughing as Inari ranted.

"What Magic did you even give him?"

"Hmm, let me think." Fujin put a finger on her chin in mock thought, further annoying Inari. "Spiraling Sphere and Sage."

The small god gaped more. "Okay, I can understand Spiraling Sphere but you gave him Sage? Are you an idiot? He'll die trying to learn it!"

"I have faith in his skills." The goddess said evenly. Inari looked about to go on another rant but was cut off. "What Magic are you going to give him?"

Inari stopped whatever it was he was going to say. It took him a moment to understand the question but when he did he quickly looked away. "I wasn't going to give him anything." He said in a small voice.

"You're a horrible liar." Inari stumbled at hearing that. "Now what Magic are you going to give him?"

Inari growled like, well, a fox and did not say anything.

Fujin sighed. "Just tell me already you idiot. I'll find out one way or the other soon enough."

"… Fine, but you have to call me Uncle from now one." Inari said with a toothy grin, feeling like he finally won in an argument with Fujin.

"No."

Inari once more stumbled, not expecting the fast reply. _"Damn you Fujin. You're so much like your mother it's scary."_ He gave a sigh. "Fine I'll tell you." He took a calming breath and Fujin looked at him expectantly. "… Walk and Demon Eyes."

Fujin blinked. "Okay."

"_Okay_?" Inari shouted back in a disbelieving voice. "You're fine with him learning those?"

The goddess shrugged. "Sure. While it's kind of disturbing that you'll give Naruto an Magic that's on par with his God Slayer, I'm not going to argue with it."

Inari was actually annoyed by this, though it was more at himself than Fujin. _"Here I was bitching about the Magic she gave Naruto and she just accepts my choice without even having to think about it… That really makes me feel like an asshole."_

"When are you going to visit him in person?"

"Don't speak about it so nonchalantly!" Inari snapped. "We're not allowed to personally talk to living humans! We could get in serious trouble for actually giving one such powerful Magic!"

Fujin gave the Fox God such a blank look it actually made him feel uncomfortable.

"W-What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Even if we _don't_ break any laws while helping him, the second any of the _Old Gods_ find Naruto he's dead."

Inari looked down at that. "Y-Yeah, I guess you're right." An awkward silence passed between them. "Alright, well, see ya later." The god disappeared in a flash of red, leaving Fujin alone.

Fujin sigh. "Idiot." She picked back up her empty cup. "I need more tea."

* * *

><p>Naruto had woken up, trained a bit, showed Natsu out of the forest when the boy woke up, and now he was resting outside once more. He was just relaxing when he heard something, like some kind of animal. Opening his eyes and sitting up, he tried to locate the sound, more out of curiosity than anything else. His search proved unnecessary when the animal ran out of some bushes and bounded up to him. It was a small fox, probably only a few months old. It had dirty gray fur and green eyes. A small amount of dried blood was visible on its muzzle, probably having hunted recently.<p>

"Akimi-chan!" Naruto gave a huge smile and held out his arms as if he was going to hug someone. The fox yipped and jumped at the boy, knocking him to the ground and falling on his chest. It then proceeded to cuddle up to him, rubbing its muzzle on Naruto's cheek. "I missed you girl, where've you been?" The small animal yipped again, getting a laugh from Naruto as he started to run his hand along her back. "You should have been here a few days ago, you would have met one of my friends." Akimi growled and nipped at Naruto's nose. "Ah don't be like that, you would have liked her. Hey even if you were just here earlier today you would have met another friend." Naruto looked away in thought for a moment. "Though you probably wouldn't have like him much. You might have liked Happy though, he's a cat." When the last words were spoken, Akimi growled again, louder this time. "Oh be quiet, you're such a baby." He stopped petting her and looked at his hand, which was covered in dirt. "A very dirty baby."

Naruto looked at the river running near by then back at Akimi. "I think someone needs a bath." He said in a sing-along voice, smiling at the fox. Akimi stiffened and quickly jumped off of Naruto, but was scooped out of the air before she hit the ground. "Now, now, now, no need to run away." The young fox yipped in protest and squirmed in his hold, but it did nothing to slow Naruto as he carried her towards the river.

* * *

><p>The gothic girl that was Mirajane stood at the edge of the northern forest, her face blank as she stared at the trees. Her eyes showed nothing, despite her struggling with an internal debate. <em>"That blonde bastard is strong at least, that's for sure."<em>

Natsu had returned to the guild just earlier, beaten and battered. It was quiet obvious he fought Naruto and lost, horribly. Though it was still a surprise at how badly he lost. His exact words were 'I fought him with all I had but I didn't even hit him once'.

Even when Mira seriously sparred Natsu with the limits of not trying to kill him, the Dragon Slayer usually got one or two hits in. But if Naruto could avoid said damage without trying then it was troubling. _"Maybe I should fight him too, just to see where I stand."_ She blinked rapidly when she realized what she was thinking. _"Wait he'll be back in a few days I don't need to stumble through this forest just to find him now."_ Cursing slightly at realizing she had to walk all the way back to the guild, the white-haired girl turned and started making her way back to Magnolia Town.

The sound of feet rapidly impacting the ground, someone running, caused Mirajane to quickly hide behind a tree. She had a reputation to uphold and she did not want it to be destroyed by people thinking she was going to visit Naruto, as she would never do that.

The running person came into view and showed to be a familiar brunette. _"Cana?"_ Mirajane questioned at seeing the other girl. _"What the hell is she doing?"_ Without stopping, Cana ran into the forest, not noticing Mirajane. _"Why is she- that bitch is going to find Naruto again! Like hell I'm going to let her be alone with the bastard!"_ Too angered by seeing her new 'rival' again did Mirajane not even notice how jealous of Cana she was feeling. The gothic girl quickly took off after the brunette.

* * *

><p>Cana pushed another low hanging branch aside and stepped over another root. <em>"Where is he? I don't remember it being this hard to find."<em> She fumed, all of the trees look alike and she could not even hear the river that ran by Naruto's house. It did not help that the sun had set long ago and it was night out. _"I am not lost. I am not lost. I am not lost. I am not lost."_ Her mantra ended when a loud crash and scream of surprise was heard. Having nothing better to do, she went to investigate. After a relatively short walk they came to an odd sight of Naruto being attacked by what looked like a wet fox.

"What the?"

She apparently said that louder than she thought as Naruto heard her and turned in her direction, holding the small fox at bay. A large smile spread across his face. "Cana-chan! What are you doing here?"

The brunette blinked at the affectionate honorific, but otherwise ignored it. "I had nothing better to do today so I came to visit." She smiled at him, but it faltered somewhat when she locked eyes with the small, wet mammal. "Um… Is that a fox?"

Naruto looked back at said animal then back at Cana. "Yeah, this is Akimi-chan. I mentioned her when you came here last time."

She thought about it and nodded in recognition. She walked up and kneeled down to get at eyelevel with the small animal. "Hello, Akimi-chan." In response, the fox bared its teeth and growled, making Cana recoil slightly.

"Aw be quiet you baby." Naruto shook the fox lightly to get it to stop. He gave Akimi a dull look. "Be nice, she's a friend." The fox growled again, getting Naruto to shake her. "Do I need to give you another bath?" That shut Akimi up. Cana was actually beginning to believe that the fox understood Naruto. "Now be nice to Cana-chan."

The fox glanced up at Cana and if she did not know any better she would say it glared at her. But foxes cannot glare, right? The brunette slowly brought her hand out to pet the animal, its green eyes following her movement as if it wanted to attack but would not. Cana stroked the fox a few times and when it did not retaliate she scratched it behind the ear like one would a cat or dog. The response to this was Akimi to practically melt in Naruto's hands; her eyes becoming lidded and she would probably start purring if she was physically capable, instead she gave a low growl of approval.

"See? Cana-chan is a nice person." Naruto said as he pulled Akimi away. Instead of listening the fox lashed out for being taken away from the pleasant sensation and attacked Naruto, making him fall back in surprise and starting another brawl.

The brunette could not hold back her amusement anymore and laughed. When Naruto said he more or less had a pet fox, she thought they would act at least something like Natsu and Happy. Instead they acted like violent siblings, similar to the masses of Fairy Tail. They would fight but never try to badly hurt one another. Even as they tumbled around in a mass of flesh and fur, she could see Naruto had a smile on his face and Akimi did not have her claws out all the way.

Her laughter was cut off when the tumbling fighting mass of Naruto and Akimi knocked into her and brought into the fight.

Cana started laughing again amidst the small brawl, soon followed by Naruto.

* * *

><p>Mirajane hid in the trees watching the mock-fight of two humans and on fox. <em>"This is the guy who beat Natsu and is supposed to be the strongest in our age group?"<em> She thought angry, gaping as Naruto took a nasty scratch across the face from the fox. She had wanted to fight this guy for almost a week and kept her from doing any jobs and risking not making her monthly rent. Granted since a few days ago she was banned from taking jobs but that's beside the point. Now he was losing to a little animal and _Cana_? She had already underestimated the brunette once and it cost her a dislocated shoulder but still. _"And Lisanna has been spreading that rumor I had I have a crush on this idiot?"_ She turned and planed to go storming back to the guild, glaring all the way.

The sound of fighting stopped and she glanced back, fire still burning in her eyes to see the three fighters lying on the ground, panting and messy. Cana looked the most tired out of all of them. Naruto suddenly grew a large smile that was even visible to Mirajane hidden in the trees and chuckled. The chuckle grew until it was a full-blown laughter. Cana looked at him and laughed too, just as loud despite having so little breath. The fox sat up and gave a large series of barks and yips, seeming to join them. The two humans stopped laughing long enough to look and the mammal before they laughed again.

Mirajane's eyes softened at seeing the laughing trio. They really were like a little family, not unlike her and her younger siblings. She found it hard to hate Naruto when he looked so happy.

"… Stupid Lisanna." She muttered half-heartedly as she walked away back towards Magnolia Town, her shoulders noticeably slumped and the skip in her step she did not know she had when looking for Naruto was gone. "Why would I like such an idiot?"

* * *

><p>The blonde suddenly stopped laughing and jerked his head to the side, as if there was something in the tree line but he saw nothing.<p>

"What's the matter?" Cana asked, her own laughter dying down. She propped herself up with her elbows to look at her friend. Akimi stopped yipping as well and looked at Naruto.

"Nothing." He said quickly. "Just thought I heard something."

A sudden yip from Akimi drew their attention to see the fox looking straight up. Following her gaze they saw the blue sky covered with iron-colored clouds that churned and rolled in a way that guaranteed a storm.

"I should get back to the guild." Cana said, standing up quickly without taking her eyes away from the storm.

"You'll never make it." Naruto, also standing up, said with a frown. "It will start raining any moment, let's go inside my house."

Cana sighed. "Guess I'll be spending the night again." A sudden memory hit her. "Where did you sleep last time I was here?"

A slight pink rose on Naruto's whiskered cheeks. "W-Well, um, I-"

**CRACK**

A sudden flash of lightening and a crack of thunder was the only warning to the sudden water that poured from the skies so thickly they could barely see the wooden house over the river.

"GO!"

Naruto's shout forced Cana into action as they both sprinted to where the house was visible moments before. Akimi yipped loudly and followed. Cana screamed as she slipped on the walkway to the porch and fell back onto the muddy ground. Naruto quickly spun around and picked up the lighter girl in his strong arms and carried into his house, the door having been left open. The fox followed soon after, looking pissed at being wet again and scared at the sudden weather. The blonde put the girl down on the floor and ran to close the door. Just as he was about to though, he spotted a silhouette barely visible in the rain but there was no mistaken of what it was.

"Someone's out there!" He shouted at Cana over the thundering of the rain.

"Who would be out there?" The girl screamed, desperately wanting for him to close the door and to get rid of the cold wind and loud rain.

"Don't know! I'll be right back!"

"Wait, don't go!" But her scream went unheard as Naruto already ran back out of the house.

Naruto ran across the already muddy ground towards the silhouette. "Hey, you there!" He called and could make out the person turning towards him. He got close enough to see that it was a boy about his age. His hair was wet and undistinguishable, his clothes where too soaked to make out, probably how Naruto's own looked by now. A flash of lightning made it possible to see for only a moment and the only thing distinguishable about the boy was his dark green eyes and a strange red mark, a tattoo possibly, going over his right eye. "What the hell are you doing out here?" He yelled over the rain, even though he was standing right next to the boy. "You need to get inside!"

"I can't do that!" The boy yelled back. "I have something I need to do!"

"What? Do you have to drown yourself on land or something? Come on!" Naruto waved over to the direction his house was.

The boys seemed annoyed by this. "I'm not going anywhere until I do my job!" He looked away then, looking almost straight up.

Confused, Naruto looked as well and felt his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. "What the fuck!" He shouted, forgetting completely about the rain as his brain practically shut down at what he was seeing. The dark clouds above them were twisting and turning around a central point, as if to make a tornado. That was not what stupefied him; he had made tornados before so he felt normal around them.

But _this_.

The spinning clouds, instead of down to meet the ground like they should, they curved upwards to make what could only be described as a gigantic hole in the sky reminiscent of a hurricane. Lightning arced within the backwards vortex and the farther into it Naruto looked, the darker it became.

The boy next to said something the was blocked by the rain but still brought Naruto out of his stupor. "What?" He shouted, looking to see the strange boy looking _scared_.

"It's too big!" He shouted back. "I can't stop it!" He was clutching a wooden staff in his hands so hard it looked like it would break.

"Then what's going to happen?" He shouted. Naruto did not like that look, he did not like it at all.

The boy seemed to be debating about something. Whatever he was going to say never came out as in the distance, farther north, a blinding light was seen on the horizon. It could be mistaken as the rising sun if it was not to the north instead of the east and if it was not ten PM already.

"Aw what _now_?" Naruto shouted to no one in particular, shielding his eyes from the light.

The boy did the same and both males could only just make out the light shrinking and shooting into the sky. The arc of light went straight up into the center of the giant vortex and had a very unexpected reaction. What happened was both amazing and frightening as the clouds that made up the walls of the vortex bulged and buckled in on themselves. A giant explosion, either of lighting or the strange light they did not know, lit up the sky and let out a shockwave that bent the trees to a point of a few breaking and knocked both males off their feet, making them land in the mud the covered the ground.

When they both looked back it was to a cloud covered sky. Rain continued to fall but the lighting had stopped all together.

The vortex was no more.

"Did you do that?" Naruto managed to get out, glancing at the other boy who seemed even more shocked than he was.

The mystery boy shook his head slowly; his jaw seemed to have become unhinged at some point and was quickly filling with water.

Not wanting him to drown, even if he did not know him, Naruto quickly shut his mouth with a snap, knocking him out of his stupor. "Well _I_ certainly didn't do that." He finally stood up, followed by the slightly taller boy.

Unexpectedly, the boy suddenly turned and walked away.

"H-Hey where are you going?" Naruto shouted after him.

He did not answer or even seem to hear the question, appearing to be in disbelief.

Before Naruto could offer him to stay at his place, the boy had disappeared through the trees and rain. Naruto looked in the direction the boy had left before turning and making his way back to his house, a light coming through the windows making it easy to spot.

The wet blonde opened the door and quickly shut and locked it.

"W-Where's the person you saw?" He heard Cana, her teeth clicking together slightly.

"Must have imagined it." Naruto said a little too quickly, though his friend did not seem to notice. He really did not want to explain what he just saw, especially when he was not sure himself what it was.

Cana was, once more, wrapped up in his comforter with her soaked and muddy clothes off to the side on the ground. A small, moving bulge in the thick sheet showed that Akimi was somewhere in there too. She was shivering despite the fire in front of her, the source of the light he saw through the windows.

"_Wait… fire?"_ Naruto looked again to make sure he was not imagining it. Right in the middle of his one-roomed house was a raging fire. "Um… Cana-chan?" He was not quiet sure how to put this subtlety so he just came out with it. "Why is my house on fire?"

"V-Vulcan." She said through her clattering teeth.

"What?"

"T-The ca-card, it's Vulcan." Now that Naruto looked, there was a single card on the ground under the fire. "I-It makes a f-flame that gives off heat b-b-but doesn't burn unle-ess you touch i-it."

"So my house isn't in trouble of being burned to the ground?" Instead of trying to answer, Cana quickly shook her head. Naruto let out a relieved sigh but still eyed the fire warily. "Could you turn around so I can get out of these muddy clothes?" The brunette quickly nodded and slid in a circle so she was facing the other way, though made sure to stay near the fire.

* * *

><p>Lisanna gloomily looked out of the guild's window. She had a job today with Elfman but there was no way she was getting anything done in this storm. Her brother, always the shy one, already went to his apartment once the clouds started to form. Just then the large doors of the building swung open and let in the cold wind. Everyone's attention was drawn to the person. It took a moment to realize who it was through the mud that covered all of their legs and a good part of their torso, arms, and face.<p>

"Mira!" It was Erza who said it first, looking surprised to see her rival like that.

"Huh?" Mirajane looked up, her eyes dull, not holding their usual mocking and excited gleam. "Oh, hey Erza." She said quietly, her eyes gazing around until she spotted her sister.

Everyone was surprised by the non-threatening statement, none more so than Lisanna. "Mira-nee-chan, are you okay?" She asked as the oldest of the Take Over siblings walked towards her. To make things worse, Mirajane seemed to be dragging her feet on the floor and her shoulders slumped as if they weight a hundred times more than they do. Rainwater and mud dripped off of her, leaving a trail on the fine wooden floor, but no one seemed to notice.

"I'm fine, Lisanna." Mirajane said weakly, stopping before her sister. "You have the key, right?"

"Y-Y-Yeah." Lisanna was more scared of Mirajane as she was now then when she was raging all over the place destroying everything. "H-Here." She pulled out a small house key and gave it to her sister. The two of them shared an apartment at Fairy Hills, as the rent was too high for Lisanna to pay alone and Mirajane had an overprotective side for her little sister.

"Thanks." Was the response as Mirajane took the key and walked away, feet still trudging along, ignoring the gaping expressions she was getting.

"Don't track mud on the floor." Lisanna said weakly.

Mirajane stopped and gave her sister a confused look, the first real emotion she showed since entering. "Mud?" Looking down at herself she seemed to notice for the first time how messy she was. "Oh, sorry." Without another word, she left the guild, forgetting to shut the doors and not seeming to notice the rain. Natsu, who by far had the best hearing, could just make out Mira muttering "idiot" over and over again as she trudged away.

* * *

><p>Naruto, dressed in a new set of clothes, sighed as he looked into the fire.<p>

"Will the rain ever let up?" Cana asked, sitting across the fire from him. She had warmed up enough that she was not stuttering and Akimi was now sleeping on the futon. "How can she sleep with this noise?" The brunette eyed the sleeping animal with jealousy. The rain was so loud she could barely hear Naruto speak.

"Akimi-chan sleeps so much, I have no idea how she can still be tired." Naruto agreed, having a small need to wake the fox just to annoy her. "I need a drink." He added and moved over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. He pulled out a large glass bottle and a small cup.

It took Cana a moment to realize what he was holding but when he pulled the cork out with his teeth and spit it away the smell hit her there was no mistaking it. She gasped as he quickly poured the cup full and swallowed it. "Is that… alcohol?"

"Huh? Yeah, why?" Naruto was already pouring himself another cup.

Cana seemed to almost go into hysteria. "B-But you're only a kid!"

"I'm thirteen." Naruto snapped, draining the whole cup. "My job description is to basically do whatever anyone wants as long as they pay. I need some way to relieve stress."

"That's no excuse!" The brunette yelled. "How did you even get that stuff?"

"Got it from Gildarts." Naruto said. Something in that short sentence seemed to shut Cana up. "When I went on a job with him we had to help this guy who owns a brewery. We did such a good job that he let us pick out a few bottles of his own brews to take for free. Gildarts can pick them better than I can so I took a few of his bottles when he wasn't looking, this is the last one though." He took another cup full and gave a loud sigh. "Damn that Old Guy sure can pick them."

Cana watches Naruto take another two cupfuls of the alcohol before she gets her voice back. "C-Can I have a sip?"

Naruto stared at the girl, slightly disturbed by the sudden change of character. "Sure, give me a minute." Standing and moving back over to the dresser, he takes another cup out of the bottom drawer and sits down next to Cana. He expertly pours and fills the cup to the brim, handing it to his friend. She takes the cup and stares at it, looking nervous. "If it's your first time you should probably swallow it all at once, it can be kind of bitter." Naruto said helpfully, taking another shot for himself. "Besides, it's only a rather weak whisky so you won't get drunk off of one shot."

Cana nodded. Building up her resolve, she quickly brought the cup to her lips and leaned back, taking the whole cup full. Her eyes watered as the liquid went down her throat, burning everything on the way. She dropped the cup and coughed violently. Almost a full minute later she stopped coughing and breathed heavily.

Naruto sat calmly off to the side, taking another shot himself. "Wha'da think?"

Cana looked at the blonde, her face red. "That wa-" She stopped to cough quickly. "That tasted better that anything I've ever had. Can I have some more?"

Naruto smiled widely. "Sure." He refilled her cup and she downed it almost instantly. Once more she coughed as it burned her throat. "You okay?"

One more cough for good measure and Cana held her cup up again. "Another." She practically demanded.

"But you're a kid." Naruto said in a mocking tone, quoting her from earlier.

She gave him a dull glare. "I'm almost twelve, that is some of the best stuff I've ever tasted, and I am in a bad mood from getting soaked _again_. You better refill me again or I will throw you out of this house and lock the door."

Naruto was able to hold her gaze for only a minute longer before he burst into laughter. Cana kept an annoyed look for all of two seconds before she smiled and laughed as well. It was impossible to do otherwise, Naruto's laughter was more contagious than anything she's ever seen. The blonde stopped laughing long enough to speak. "Hang on for a minute." He got up again, taking the whiskey with him. He went back over to his dresser and put the bottle back in the bottom drawer that Cana had now dubbed 'alcohol drawer', pulling out two different bottles instead.

"How much do you have in there?" The brunette asked, starting to feel a little lightheaded.

"Just the whiskey and these two." Naruto said as he sat back down next to her, putting the two bottles on the floor with a small thud. "I made them myself." Seeing Cana's surprised yet disbelieving eyes Naruto explained further. "The guy who gave us the free drinks told me the basics on how to brew. A few visits to the library and talks with Master and Gildarts later and these are what I got." He bit the cork of one of the bottles and pulled it out, spitting it away. "It hasn't had time to age but I hope its good."

Cana followed his example and uncorked the other bottle. They both poured their respective cups and picked them up. Cana was about to drink it when she saw Naruto holding up his cup.

"A toast." He said with a smile. "To friends."

Cana could not stifle her laugh. "That's cheesy." She said, getting a pout from the blonde.

"Then what would you toast to?" He asked, a little annoyed.

She thought about it and smiled at him, holding her own cup up. "To shitty weather."

Naruto fell onto his back laughing. "Yes, yes!" He managed to hold his own cup up. "To shitty weather and the girl who keeps stealing my comforter." They both smiled and clinked their cups together and continued drinking into the night, laughing away and forgetting about the rain violently hitting the roof above them.

Neither of them ever noticed the little fox, Akimi, disappear in a red flash.

* * *

><p>Akimi reappeared not to far away, only a small distance from the house. The fox looked around, confused at her sudden relocation. The rain still fell though for some reason not a single drop touched her pelt.<p>

"Hey there little girl." Akimi actually jumped at the voice and turned to face a very dirty red-eyed boy. The fox seemed even more surprised when she figured out who it was and gave a series of yips. "Subtle down girl." Inari said, trying to placate the child. "What's been going on since the last time I checked it?" There was another series of yips. Inari's smile faltered for a moment before he barked a laugh. "He's already getting a chick drunk in his house? Damn he works fast." Another series of yips made Inari look at the house, its windows still lit from the fire inside. "Is that so?… He's been through enough crap today, I'll see him in the morning." The Fox God finally resolved, sitting down to wait the storm out, even if the drops were not touching his muddy form.

Akimi nodded before walking back to the house.

"Aw come on." He called after Akimi. "Don't you want to spend some time with me?"

Akimi stopped and looked over her shoulder at Inari, gave a few choice yips before facing forward again and walking away.

"Tsk." Inari looked away, trying to hide his pout, as if someone was there to see it. "You've been hanging out with Fujin too much."


End file.
